Operation: Rewind
by HTKWolfe777
Summary: When Shadow is almost out of his mind with boredom, he decides to go beat the tar out of a certain blue Faker to clear his head. But when he gets to New York, where he'd last heard Sonic was, he finds a hoard of the undead instead. Can Shadow survive? Reviews are greatly appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

**Well, this is my first Fanfic, I'll try to update it as often as I can. I know that this chapter is kinda short, but I'm going to write longer ones later on, so fear not! A special thanks to Chocoholic princess and Conor T Hedgehog for your support.**

Operation: "Rewind" Chapter one: Solidarity

Shadow watches, unimpressed, as storm clouds rumble overhead. The ebony, and crimson hedgehog stands on a sheer cliff in the middle of one of this planet's vast forests, somewhere in the middle of Yellowstone National Park. He'd been here for a while now, keeping to the places off the tourist routes when he could. The local wildlife hasn't been a problem, not since a bear had tried to kill him. It had been pitiful, really, but then again Earth's animals aren't as smart as Mobians. After all, who would win in a match between a six-hundred pound grizzly bear, and the Ultimate Life-Form? Hmph! It wasn't even exercise.

Shadow's gaze goes upward as a bolt of white lightning flashes toward him.

"Chaos Spear!" a bolt of golden light flies from his fingertip, and collides with the white-hot plasma. The sound is earsplitting, two clashes of thunder in succession, but Shadow ignores it. The lightning bolt arcs back into the clouds, and he hears it come back down to earth some distance away.

Shadow lets out a sound that's half a growl, half a sigh; he's bored. At least that fake blue hedgehog, Sonic, had been a good enough opponent on occasion. Perhaps, dare he admit it; it's time to seek him out? He makes a disgusted sound, and pulls out his green chaos emerald. Last he'd heard that fox boy, Miles Tails Prowers, had set up a lab in New York City. Then that is where he should go, at least it's something to do.

Shadow stares at the gem in his hand for a moment, musing that perhaps the lightning had been drawn to the emerald in the first place. The thought almost amuses him, because he knows that it is in the nature of the Chaos Emeralds to be a source of trouble wherever they show up. Much like him, as far as the general populace was concerned.

"Chaos Control!" in a flash of green light, the onyx hedgehog vanishes, much to the dismay of a pack of wolves who had been hoping for more free food to be left behind by the strange predator.

_**New York City, Empire State Building, Top Floor-**_

Shadow appears in another flash of green light, startling a pair of tourists who flee when he glances at them. He scans the skies, hoping to catch a glimpse of the royal blue plane that Tails flew. No such luck. He leaps onto the guardrail of the city overview, and then allows gravity to pull him off of the building.

One story down, he uses his hover-shoes to expertly back-flip to the side of the well-known landmark. To those who somehow managed to get a glimpse of the black and red blur it would have appeared as if he were falling headfirst. In actuality, he's using his hover-shoes to skate down the side of the building. He pushes off of the building just in time to grind along a street lamp, preform a flip, and grind along the street lamp on the opposite side of the busy road. He jumps, using his momentum to run at an upward slant on a skyscraper. When he reaches the edge of the wall, he goes airborne, overshooting the sidewalk. He grabs a streetlamp, and spins in a loop-the-loop like a gymnast, letting go when he can get the most lift. After preforming an airborne back-flip, and a half-second grind on a newspaper dispenser, Shadows dashes through the surprisingly empty sidewalks. Then again, it was night time, and anyone smart was indoors by now.

"Help!" as if on que, Shadow hears a shout from an alleyway he just happened to be passing by. In the faint light, his brain processes the scene off to his side in half a second. Two figures are distinguishable in the shadows, one standing, and the other on the ground. The standing figure has a wide girth at his gut, a red baseball cap, and something glinting in his hand, probably a knife. Shadow can't see much of the second figure, just blonde hair, a blue dress, and a matching headband.

Shadow warps into the alleyway, delivering a spinning kick to the attacker's head. As the Caucasian man collapses several feet away, Shadow turns to the woman on the ground, and silently curses. It's not her, he should have known better. What he'd mistaken for a dress was a waitress's uniform, and the face staring up at him certainly isn't Maria's. He mentally kicks himself, and walks past the drunken assailant, picking up the knife as he goes.

"Thank you."

Shadow pauses, and looks over his shoulder at the woman. She has her arms wrapped around her, and the nervous smile she's giving him seems sincere enough.

"Whatever," he turns away from her, and bolts out of her view. As he dashes though the sidewalks yet again, he thinks hard to himself_. Maria is dead, long dead._ He'd promised her that he would give the people of earth a chance for a happier life, something that she'd always wanted for the both of them. But how can he find his own piece of peace on this planet when the very memory of her still plagues him like a cruel ghost? He shakes himself after startling a stray cat out of its wits, and focuses on running.

**There's plenty more where this came from, so don't worry, AND PLEASE DON'T HIT ME! I BRUISE EASILY, AND I CRY LIKE A GIRL! XD **


	2. Chapter 2: Apples, and Oranges

**Alright, here's chapter 2. I'm thinking I might post 2 chapters a week, if I can. Enjoy!**

Shadow blinks his eyes open to a light "cooing" sound. A flock of pigeons are collecting on the edge of a roof where he'd decided to spend the night. Luckily he'd found a sleeping spot with rain shelter, which meant shelter from pigeon poop as well. Out of nowhere the pigeons suddenly take flight all at once. Shadow jumps to his feet when he hears footsteps rapidly approaching, hand going to the ground where he'd left the knife he'd collected last night.

He stops when he sees that it's just a young boy, about the age of eight, or nine. He's a black kid, and wearing sneakers, jeans, a t-shirt, and a hoody. He looks upset that him running over scared the pigeons away, but just shrugged, and started peeling an orange he'd brought up with him.

Shadow growls, and relaxes his stance. The boy looks over and his eyes go wide. Shadow frowns when the boy breaks out a wide smile, and offers Shadow half his orange. A confused look comes over the boy's face when Shadow takes the offered fruit.

"You're not Sonic, who are you?"

"Shadow."

"Shadow..." The boy chews thoughtfully on a slice of orange, and then he brightens. "Oh yeah, I remember you! You're the Ultimate Warrior!"

"Ultimate Life-Form," Shadow corrects, eating a bite of his breakfast.

The boy shrugs, "I knew it was something like that. My name's Mika, by the way. So what brings you to the big apple, hm?"

Shadow glances at the boy out of the corner of his eye, _what a strange kid_. "I'm looking for that faker hedgehog, any idea where he is?"

Mika shrugs, "All I know is he ain't here. A long while back his partner Tails made that lab over in Queens, but a few weeks later they split to deal with that fool Eggman down in Miami. Hell, they could be in Tokyo for all I know."

Shadow growls, and downs the rest of his orange, "So I take it that none of them are here?"

"That's what I said, right? Anyhow, if you're looking for them you could just go to the Times, and ask them. I mean, you're famous too, so they'd probably get you up to date just for an interview, or something."

"Thanks for the advice, kid." Shadow rolls his eyes, but Mika doesn't seem to notice.

"No problem. Hey, good luck, alright?"

Shadow grunts a reply, and slides down the fire-escape into an alley. Out on the streets he starts walking, the pedestrians giving him a wide birth. It's just like the kid said; Sonic could be in Tokyo by now. Shadow growls, and cracks his knuckles, earning him a few scared glances. He could go to Miami next, and start tracking the faker, but who knows how long it could take? It would probably be more trouble than it's worth going that route. Should he go to the New York Times, like the kid had suggested? It would certainly take less time to find Sonic if he took that route, assuming they even had anything to offer him.

Shadow's ears twitch as he hears police sirens, lots of them. Five, maybe six sets of flashing lights go by him on the street. Some part of his brain wonders what's happening, and another deliberates why he should even care, it's not his problem. Boredom mixed with curiosity overcomes him, and he dashes out into the road, hot on the heels of a police cruiser. He crouches low, and holds onto the rear bumper of a cruiser, letting his hover-shoes do all the work for him. He closes his eyes, ears straining to pick up the chatter on the police radio.

"All units... advised, there's … at … subway station. Lethal... has been authorized... Repeat... has been authorized..."

Shadow grins, looks like there's going to be a fight after all. After this he'd see if he could get any information on the faker, and then go look for a real fight.

Shadow feels an itch on the back of his neck, and glances around. He sees nothing, but for a minute there he could have sworn he felt someone's eyes on him.

"Hmph," he says to himself. "Maybe I have been alone for too long, I'm just wishing there was someone there for me to take down." His mind flashes back to a saying Professor Gerald Robotnik had used once or twice.

_ Be careful what you wish for, Shadow, you just might get it…_

** Alrighty then, please Reveiw!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for your comments, princcess. OMG, I'm embarrased with my grammar! could you be a bit specific, pretty-please? THNX!**

It's not long before the cruisers get to the station, and the cops start unloading. Shadow had let go of his ride as it had come around that last corner, and was currently watching from around the corner of a dark alley. Two or three of the officers stand at the top of the stairs leading into the station, and draw their weapons.

"This is NYPD, stop where you are! Get down on the ground with your hands on your head, or we will be forced to open fire!" No response comes from below, and the officer's voice becomes more urgent, not that he was exactly calm before.

"This is your last warning, get down on the ground with your hands behind your head, or we will open fire." Still no response from below, though Shadow can now make out some kind of noise, but it doesn't make sense to him.

"Drop 'em!" The officers open fire with their revolvers, and Shadow pokes his face further around the corner. The officers look like they have the situation taken care of, but maybe they could tell Shadow something if he-

"Ruuuh…" Shadow turns to see a little girl in a dress, and pigtails stumbling towards him. He narrows his eyes at the youth, something seems off about her. She extends grasping hands at him, and lunges.

Instinct kicks in, and Shadow dodges to the side. The girl barrels past him, and slowly turns around the stare at him. As she lunges at him again, Shadow flips over her, landing in the street. Shouting from the officers distracts Shadow, and he sees them struggling to reload their weapons. Their assailants stumble out from the stairway, and tackle the three officers who used to be at the stair top. Horrified screams come from the fallen officers as their comrades either draw their own sidearms, or draw riot clubs before charging. Those who try to beat down the crowd are quickly overtaken.

Shadow watches with morbid fascination, "Are they… are they _eating_ them?" He feels a pressure on his wrist "Shit!" Somehow he'd forgotten about the child, and he grabs her by the throat as she _tries_ to bite into his arm. He grunts as he holds her aloft, but can't seem to break her grip.

_Dammit, _he thinks to himself. _She can't be more than seven, how can she be this strong?! _His eyes widen as he notices through his grip that his attacker isn't even trying to breathe! Shadow starts to push stronger now, but not being able to stop her jaws from nearing his arm.

"Chaos Spear!"

The force of the attack sends the kid flying, and Shadow skids back a few yards. Shadow's breath is starting to get a bit heavy, and his eyes fall on the child's severed arm. He watches as the girl gets back on her feet, and he takes a step back. Aside from the obvious, there's something odd he notes as the kids begins to stagger after him again.

_Her arm… where's all the blood? _He glances at the arm on the street, it's not bleeding either. More shuffling noises draw Shadow's eyes to the police, long overtaken now. Hundreds of people are stumbling towards him, making a choir of the most eerie sounds that Shadow has never heard. The look in their eyes is the same as the girl's.

Shadow doesn't panic, he never panics, but he does know when it's time to fight, and when not to. He has never seen behavior like this before, are they sick or something? Can it be some kind of Rabies, maybe? They'll attack him if he stays, so he should probably back off until he knows more. He turns, and bolts as the little girl lunges at him again. Not even ten yards away, he freezes. While he had been occupied with the brat, another line of police had blockaded the other side of the block. They too have been overtaken by these strange assailants. He growls at himself for letting himself be so easily surrounded.

He grabs onto the pole of a streetlight, and uses his hover-shoes to grind up it, leaving candy-cane-like burn marks. He squeals to a halt on top of the light, and stares into the building he almost smashed his way into. The windows are covered with blood, and he can see glimpses of more of these… He growls in frustration, just what the hell is going on?!

He looks down to see the street is filled with these… _things._ Just one way out then, Shadow frowns.

A sharp whistle draws his eyes upwards to see a familiar figure swooping down on him, arms ready to catch him up. Shadow pulls the Chaos Emerald out, and holds it over his head. He uses Chaos Control, Shadow teleports himself to the top of a building in a flash of green light, moving himself out of danger for the moment. After putting the Emerald way, he crosses his arms, closes his arms, and waits. A few moments later he hears the clicks of feet landing on the ground behind him.

"You know, I was just trying to help you out, Shadow."

"What are you doing here, Rouge?"

The white bat shrugs her shoulders, "It's a big city with lots of jewels, need I say more?"

"I guess not," Shadow nods down to the street below. "Do you have any idea what's going on here?"

Rouge smirks slyly, "What, you've never seen a horror movie?" Shadow just stares at her, making her sigh. "They're Zombies, Shadow, ring any bells now?" Shadow remains silent, which she takes as a "no". "How can you not know about Zombies? They're, like, all over old stories about the dead coming back to life!"

"What makes you think I would ever care about those?" Shadow raises an eyebrow.

Rouge looks a little put out, "Alright, alright, point taken. Okay, Zombies 101, somehow dead people are walking the earth again, and they have a taste for living flesh. They don't feel pain, they travel in hoards, and the only weak spot is the brain. Even if you cut off their heads, the body will stop moving, but the head can still bite. Also, if you get bit by a Zombie, you die and become a Zombie."

Shadow flinches inwardly at the memory of how close he'd gotten to being bit, but then he remembers who he's talking to. "And why should I believe this?"

Rouge jerks a thumb towards the street below, "Well they didn't, and look at them now. I was skeptical at first, but after killing a few I can't come up with any other explanation. Too bad the others are off in LA, or we could clean this mess up no problem."

Shadow narrows his eyes at Rouge, "How did you know that they're in Los Angeles?"

Rouge puts her hands on her hips, "Did you forget? I'm a G.U.N. agent, Shadow. Besides, the others keep in touch, you know, in case they need a hand, and got a few spare jewels." She smiles at this last part.

Shadow's not convinced, "If you know where they are, then what you are still doing here?"

"Want me to clean your ears out for you? I'm a G.U.N. agent. They have me here gathering info for them. In fact…" She pulls out a Walkie-Talkie. "This is Agent Rouge reporting in. I've made contact with former Special Agent Shadow, awaiting orders." Shadow frowns at her as orders come in that Shadow cannot hear. "Roger that, over and out."

She smiles as she puts the Walkie-Talkie away, "Well, Shadow, apparently G.U.N. thinks that these things are more important than you are. You're welcome to lend a hand if you want, I'm sure they could make it worth your while."

Shadow opens his mouth to refuse, but stops. Wasn't boredom the whole reason he came to this city? Just looking at those things, those _Zombies,_ down in the street has his heart pumping in a way that it hasn't in months. Plus, this way he didn't even need to have anything to do with that poser, Sonic.

"Alright, fine," he unfolds his arms. "I'll help, I doubt that you could handle yourself without me anyways." Shadow almost grins, but stops when Rouge beats him to it.

"Thanks, Shadow, you big sweetheart, you." She winks at him

"Enough of that or those things won't get a chance to kill you."

She just chuckles, "whatever you say, big guy. Now c'mon, I got a few checkpoints to go through, then we can get you armed at one of our safe-houses."

Rouge flaps her wings, and takes off with Shadow in close pursuit.


	4. Chapter 4

**I cannot tell you how happy it makes me that we are getting into longer chapters! As an avid reader it drives me nuts when there's so little to read X3.**

Rouge stretched tiredly as they made it by to the safe-house. Shadow had kept up with her easily enough, though he didn't see how she could have expected any less. They had kept to the rooftops, keeping as discreet as possible. Fifteen checkpoints, all overrun with not a speck of life in sight.

"Thanks for the assist, Shadow," Rouge says as she pulls a coke out of a mini-fridge. "Most of the other agents are already at the new HQ, so I had this place all to my lonesome. It's nice for a change, even if that change has the attitude of a rock."

"Hmph," is Shadow's only reply as he glances around. It doesn't look much different on the inside than a regular apartment. There's a couch, a TV, a fridge, a mini-fridge, a kitchen, and a couple of cots in the next room. Rouge starts poking through the cupboards, and sighs.

"There's not much, but we gotta eat at some point, want something?"

"Whatever," he doesn't care. Shadow lies down on the couch, picks up the remote, and flicks on the TV. He feels a great sense of loathing as Barney starts playing on the screen, and it's all he can do not to crush the remote in his hand as he changes the channel. He pauses in his channel surfing when Amy Rose's face appears on the television, advertising lipstick.

"The hell…?" he raises an eyebrow at the screen.

"I told you they were in LA," Rouge plops down next to Shadow's feet with a bowl of popcorn.

"So Rose is famous, no big deal." Shadow starts flipping through channels again.

"MMM, not just her," Says Rouge around a mouthful of popcorn, and then she swallows. "Most of the Sonic Team, as they got labeled, lives in Beverly Hills. Amy's an actress, probably got the idea to get Sonic's attention. She's pretty good, as a matter of fact. Knuckles got scouted for heavy-weight boxing, and won the championship last month. No one's stupid enough to take him on now in an official ring, but G.U.N. Intel says that he gets by on a few underground fights, and the occasional bodyguard job. Tails made a new laboratory along the coast, and basically spends his days making the latest conveniences, and he's a G.U.N. tech-consultant on the side. He and his little Honey Bunny do alright for themselves.

"His _what,_" Shadow raises a skeptical eyebrow at Rouge.

She tosses a piece of popcorn into the air, and catches it in her mouth. "I think you might have met her, remember Cream? She's the orange rabbit with the pet Chao?"

Shadow nods, "I remember."

"Well gossip on the media says that they're engaged. Well, they're both about nineteen now, so I guess it's okay." Rouge shrugs, and Shadow passes her the remote. Shadow hadn't thought about age in a long time, considering he doesn't age even a second. He'd been created over fifty years ago, and even if he hadn't been put into Cryostasis, he doubted that it would have made a difference. He'd thought that he'd only been away for a few months, but can it have been longer? Last he'd checked that fox had only been nine years old. Sure he hadn't paying attention to time in Yellowstone, just living day by day, but _ten years? _It seems impossible.

"Anything on Ivo?"

"If you're asking if he's in BH, then no, he's not. G.U.N. Intel actually doesn't know exactly where he is, or they don't tell me anyways. He's not here now though, and that's good enough for me."

Rouge finally just settles on a series called "101 Ways to Leave a Game Show", and leans back into the plush couch. Shadow puts his arms behind his head, and says, "Anything else that I should know about?"

"Wow, Shadow, you almost sound interested." She ignores his glare, and laughs as one of the contestants starts to scream while a monster truck runs over the car she's in. After she wipes a tear from her eye, she says. "Well, nothing's changed for Sonic, he's not in LA. "Not enough running space," he says. So he's out there somewhere, just being Sonic."

Shadow says nothing, just leaning over to get some popcorn before watching the TV. Four contestants are standing on what looks like diving boards on a ten story tower. They're given a question with four answers. They have to pick the right one if they want to stay on their feet; if they guess wrong then the host will push a button that makes the platform fall out from under them. There's deep water at the bottom, so they won't die, assuming they can swim, but they won't win the ten-thousand dollar prize money either.

"Why would they consent to this," Shadow muses aloud. Rouge replies, thinking that he was talking to her.

"Maybe they want the money, maybe they want to be famous for thirty minutes, maybe they want the thrill, or maybe it's all of the above; who knows? Hey, I'd do it for a little spending money, but I'm not that great at trivia."

"And you can fly," Shadow points out.

"It's a good thing too, because I hate swimming."

They carry on like this throughout the night, and after dinner they head to bed. Shadow takes a cot in the living room, while Rouge gets the couch. The cot is not the most comfortable of beds, but Shadow falls asleep almost as soon as his head hits the pillow. Ten years of sleeping on leaves, grass, and dirt will do that to anyone.

**I think I'll try to post 2-4 chapters a week if I can. Please reveiw, and don't be afraid of being brutally honest, as it will only help me improve!**

** That reminds me; blaze13401, I realize now that I was being a little obnoxious with my reveiws. I'm only saying it here because, since you blocked me, I have no other way of contacting you. *shrug* And when I had said that I thought you might have been making mistakes on purpose, what I'd said was, "I think you might be doing this on purpose so that no one will suspect you of being a PROFESSIONAL AUTHOR." ****_It was a compliment! _****I read Young Heart, by the way, very good work!**

** Anywhooser, please reveiw!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey you guys, it's me again! Happy Holidays, and a Happy New year to you! Here's Chapter Five, and I hope you like it. I invented a few of my own characters who willl tie into the plot in their own way. More will show up later in the story. This is my first time trying using OC's in a Fanfic, so please let me know how I did! THNX!**

Shadow wakes up the next morning to the smell of bacon, and eggs. He opens his eyes, and sits up.

"Oh, good, you're awake." Rouge walks to the table with her breakfast. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about how to wake you up. Knowing you shaking you, or a bucket of water was out of the question."

"I'll wake up when I need to, so don't bother," he growls, and heads to the kitchen. After making himself some breakfast with a glass of milk he, and Rouge put their dishes in the sink. They head into the next room, and Rouge heads to the closet. Pressing a hidden button in the frame of the closet, the back wall of the closet opens up, revealing an armory.

"Take your pick," Rouge says, taking a step back. "I gotta go make lunch, because I doubt we'll have time to stop by Burger King while we're out." As Rouge steps out of the room, Shadow appraises the weaponry. Stepping forward, he straps a pair of Desert Eagle handguns to his waist, and a pair of knives to match. He glances over the rifles, which he doubts he'll need with the Chaos Emerald; still, better safe than sorry. He picks up a G.U.N. issue shotgun; it has a clip that feeds rounds into the barrel, doubling the shot limit of normal shotguns. He loads a few clips for the shotgun, and his pistols, and walks out to the living room. Rouge looks up, a Wall-Mart bag in each hand.

"Well, you look ready to rumble," she gives him a sly smirk.

"Aren't you going to get any weapons, or do I have to cover your ass all day?"

Rouge just rolls her eyes, ever-impervious to Shadow's hostile attitude, "I already know what I want, be back in two seconds!" Rouge dives into the armory, and appears tow minute later with a pair of Uzi's on her hips.

"Is that really the best idea? Those things will eat ammo faster than you can blink."

Rouge shrugs, "That's why I have you, right?"

Shadow stares at her, and then turns to the door, "Whatever."

"You know, Shadow, I'm sure you get this a lot, but you sure are a talkative guy." She smiles to herself as Shadow stops, and looks at her out of the corner of his eye.

"If you have a problem-"

"No-no-no, no problem, Shadow; I was just making a joke."

Shadow stares at her for a minute or two, _Why does she provoke me so much? She doesn't believe that I will hurt her. It would do her well to remember who I am._

He walks up to her until they are almost nose to nose. "Listen Rouge, for the sake of my sanity, and your well-being, I suggest you stop acting cute, and get your ass in line."

"Awwww," she croons. "You really thing I'm cute?" before Shadow has time to think, Rouge leans forward, and pecks him on the lips. Shadow takes a surprised step backwards, and Rouge giggles.

"Alright handsome, let's get to work!" She dashes around him, and heads for the door. As she reaches for the door, she freezes. She feels a tingling on the back of her neck, and it's not in her head. Slowly she turns her head, and her eyes go wide when she sees Shadow. He's glaring at her, fanged teeth bared, and his skin is rippling with red Chaos energy. She turns around, pressing her back to the door, and holding her arms out in front of her.

"Whoa… Shadow… hold it… please!"

She winces as Shadow walks towards her, holding her palms out helplessly to ward him off. She squeezes her eyes shut at Shadow raises a fist, and screams as a loud "_CRASH"_ rings through the apartment.

When she realizes that she's not hurt, she slowly cracks one eye open. There stands Shadow, still angry, still glowing, and a fist halfway through a hole in the door that hadn't been there before.

"_Never… Do… That… Again…"_ he growls, and yanks his fist free of the wood. Slowly the glowing fades, and Shadow regains his composure. He opens the door, causing Rouge to fall backwards out of the apartment. He walks out lunch in his fist, "Let's go."

Rouge takes a moment to lock the door, though with the hole she doesn't know what good it'll do. Afterwards, she wants to make some kind of crack about thanking Shadow for not destroying the pad, but right now she's deciding against it.

_**-The Streets of New York-**_

It's a few hours after the incident at the Safe-House, and most of the tension has worn of. Shadow's not talking to Rouge, but she doesn't mind.

Rouge sighs, "Seven checkpoints, and not a glimpse of life. This has to be the worst epidemic in the history of mankind." Shadow says nothing, but pulls out a pair of binoculars to observe the infested street below. After a minute or two he passes the binoculars to Rouge, and points down below.

"The pawn-shop, what do you see?"

Rouge looks, and then turns back to Shadow, "A couple of broken glass doors, why?"

"Look again, Rouge."

Rouge frowns, but takes a second look, "I think there's a pile of bodies in the doorway, but why should that matter? The Zombies already broke in, and anyone inside is already Zombie-Chow."

Shadow shakes his head, "The way they're stacked, Rouge, it looks almost like sandbags. It's a barricade, meaning that we've found survivors."

Rouge's eyes widen as she peers through the binoculars again, "…I think you're right, Shadow." She stands, and pulls out her Walkie-Talkie. "This is Agent Rouge, and Consultant Shadow reporting in from checkpoint Gamma. Possible life sighted, requesting retrieval team STAT."

A garbled reply comes over the radio, and Rouge puts it away. "We've got our orders. I have to continue checking the other checkpoints, and maybe double-check the ones that we've already been over. Can I count on you to stay here till Retrieval comes?"

Shadow nods, and Rouge flies off of the radio tower they've been sitting on. Though Shadow doesn't carry a watch, the sun is pretty high in the sky. _Might as well have lunch._

Shadow opens his plastic bag, and finds a Mountain Dew with a ham and cheese sandwich. He frowns, not at his lunch, but at himself. His mind goes back to his actions back at the safe-house, and he sighs. _She went through the trouble to look out for me, and I treat her like dirt. Did she really deserve that? Sure, she overstepped her bounds, but I made her afraid for her life. That's what I'd meant to do, yeah, but I should probably apologize so that she's not afraid of having me at her back when it matters._

Shadow bites into his sandwich, and continues observing the street below. No sooner than his sandwich, and half of his drink are gone, the G.U.N. Retrieval team shows up. They drop down on ropes to a opposite to the store form a hovercraft, and wait. Shadow ties his bag to the radio-tower, and jumps. Using a homing attack on one of the robots they brought with them, and pulling out of it at the last second, Shadow lands on the roof next to them. Doing a head count, he counts five soldiers, and five robots – the hovering kind – before walking up to the lead solider.

"Agent Shadow," says the solider, snapping a salute. Shadow ignores the "agent" thing, but returns the salute.

"You got binoculars," Shadow asks, and the soldier pulls a pair out of his pack. Shadow gestures for the man to follow him to the roof's edge, and points down below. "In the pawn shop, look."

The soldier kneels, and peers through the binoculars. After a moment he pushes a button on his binoculars, making a small antenna rise up. He pushes another button, and Shadow hears a small clicking sound, like a camera. He fiddles with the zoom, and takes another picture before pulling out a Walkie-Talkie.

"This is Retrieval Team Alpha reporting in from checkpoint Gamma. False alarm, I repeat, False Alarm."

_What?!_

One by one the soldiers tie their ropes to their belts, and are pulled back into the hovercraft. Shadow watches in disbelief as they fly off, and then he gets angry. "What the hell?! How stupid are G.U.N. Lackeys these days?"

"Well since you are one, you should be able to answer that question on your own."

Shadow whips around to see who had spoken, and pauses. It's a Mobians, another hedgehog, but not like any hedgehog Shadow had ever seen. His fur is a charcoal-gray color, and the tips of his quills darken into black. His eyes are the same color as his fur, but what really throws Shadow for a loop is his quills. They're about half as long as Sonic's or his own, and styled quite differently. While their quills are slicked back – slightly in Shadow's case – the quills of this new hedgehog make his head look like the end of a Morning-Star. He's dressed in puck-rock clothes; combat-boots, black jeans, and a white t-shirt dyed to look sprayed with blood. He wears gloves like all Mobians, but his are black instead of white with one inch metal spike on each knuckle. He blinks at Shadow, a smug expression on his face.

"Sorry, dude, didn't mean to sneak up on ya."

"Who are you," there's a slight growl in Shadow's voice mixed with confusion.

"Jeez, man, no need to bite my head off. I'm Spike, pleased to meetcha." he walks over to stand next to Shadow. "Look, could I bother you for a small favor?"

Shadow frowns, "What?"

Spike jerks a thumb at the street below, "My partner is kinda trapped in that pawn-shop down there. I'd gone out earlier to get some supplies, but when I came back the way in was blocked off by those things."

"Then where's your supplies," Shadow asked suspiciously.

Spike points down the street, "On the street corner down there, I had to drop it to get away. Climbed a ladder on a fire escape, turns out these things can't climb ladders. They can do ramps, or stairs, but that's about it."

Shadow is quiet for a minute, and then he says, "Alright, wait here for the signal."

With that, Shadow jumps off the roof, using a homing-attack on a Zombie to land in the middle of the street. He curls in on himself, and red Chaos Energy begins to flow along his skin.

"Chaos... Blast!"

Shadow straightens, and throws his arms out to his sides. As he does, and wave of pure Chao Energy fries every Zombie within a block on either side of him. Spike peeks over the edge of the roof as the energy dissipates eyes wide. Shadow jerks his head, gesturing for Spike to join him. Spike takes a few steps back, and then leaps off of the roof, hugging a street pole on his way down. He picks his way over to Shadow, "Whoa that was… Words cannot describe it, but I think I'll go with "Terrifying," okay?"

"This is a bit late, but you do have some weapons, right?" Shadow crosses his arms.

"Yeah, of course," Spike flings out a hand, and black smoke shoots from his palm. He grabs the smoke, and it vanishes, revealing a katana with a blood colored blade.

"Interesting," says Shadow, narrowing his eyes. "I know someone who can do something similar."

"So do I," Shadow thinks that he hears a note of regret in Spike's voice, but Shadow ignores it for the moment.

"Just call him out, and let's get out of here."

Spike runs to the shop, and calls, "Reave, it's Spike, let's go!"

Another Mobian climbs over the barricade of bodies, and faces Shadow. This one is a cat, with grey stripes like a tiger's. His eyes are gold, and Shadow gets a weird feeling from looking in those eyes, one that makes the fur on the back of his neck stand up in defense. His clothes are all black, and remind Shadow of another cat he knows named Blaze. Looking closely, Shadow can make out throwing knives sheathed in various spots on his body.

Spike steps up, "Reave, this is… uh, sorry dude, I forgot to ask your name?"

"Shadow, Shadow the Hedgehog."

Spike drops his sword, and his jaw hits the ground, "No way… Dude, you're a legend, a frickin' Super Hero! Can I have your auto-?"

Reave rears back a fist, and raises a decent sized welt on the back of Spike's head.

"Owe…"

"I apologize for that," Reave says, cracking his knuckles. "Spike can get a bit overeager at times. Truly, thank you for your help; I am in your debt."

"Always so formal," Spike dodges a second punch by picking up his sword. "But he's right, we owe ya, dude."

Shadow opens his mouth to object, but a familiar shuffling sound stops him. From either side of the street, more Zombies are coming, having been drawn by the sound of Chaos Blast. Reave draws three knives in each hand, and Spike raises his sword.

"Uh, dude- Shadow, could you do that thing you did before, and fry them too?"

"I've got a better idea," Shadow walk over to Spike, and Reave. "Grab on." Spike grasps on of Shadow's arms with a free hand, and Reave squeezes Shadow's shoulder.

"Chaos Control!" in a flash of green light, they appear on the radio tower that he and Rouge had been keeping watch from.

"Whoa," Spike says, fighting off a sense of vertigo. "Now that was quite a ride"

"I'm inclined to agree," Reave sheathes his knives, and turns to Shadow. "Again, thank you for saving us."

"It's-" a clang behind them causes them to turn. Shadow grins at the sight of a very welcome, and much winded Rouge.

"I saw… the light… heard… the blast… came… as fast… as I could…"

"Whoa, who's the babe?" Spike grins.

"This is Rouge," Shadow says coldly. "She's my partner."

Rouge catches her breath, and looks them over in confusion, "Wait, what are they doing here? They should be with the retrieval team, and on their way to G.U.N. HQ by now.

Spike nods, "I'd figured you guys were G.U.N. guys when I saw the hovercraft. They were only there for a second or two, so I'd assumed they'd just dropped off Shadow, and went to help someone else."

Shadow shakes his head, "I showed them the barricade, and they called it in as a false alarm."

"_What?!" _the other three yell in unison.

"But… that can't be right." Rouge starts to pace. "Protocol says that they should have at least gone to closely observe the situation."

"You know me well enough to know that I don't lie, Rouge." Shadow crosses his arms, "the leader of the retrieval team took a few pictures, then called in a false alarm."

Spike shrugs, "Maybe he felt like he just didn't wanna risk his men."

"Maybe," Rouge muses. "Or else something else could be happening."

"Like what?" Spike raises his eyebrows.

"I'm not sure… but we can look into this later. Right now we should decide what to do about you two."

Reave speaks up, "We have a debt to pay, Miss Rouge; Shadow saved my life, maybe Spike's too. If you will allow it, we would like to stay with you until such time as we can return the favor."

Rouge mulls it over, "Well it would be nice to have a few extra hands on deck, what do you think, Shadow?"

"If it's necessary, then so be it."

"That's as close to a "yes" as you're going to get," Rouge walks up to the two of them, and shakes their hands. "Welcome aboard."

**Did you like that? I haven't even started yet! I've got a few questions to run by you: **

**Did G.U.N. leave Reave and Spike on purpose? **

**Who exactly are these two strange Mobians? **

**Isn't eggnog THE best drink in the universe?**

**Find out in the next chapter! Please Reveiw!**


	6. Chapter 6

By the time they all get back to the Safe-House, it's sunset. Shadow passes his weapons to Rouge so that she can put them away. Reave goes with her, and Shadow watches as Spike dives for the kitchen.

"Let's see… for dinner we have chips, chocolate, chocolate chips, and Chips Ahoy! Bon Appetite!" Spike pokes his head over a counter-top, a cookie in his mouth. "Ay Sadow, wan sumfin?"

"No," Shadow takes a seat on the couch. Spike shrugs, and dives back into the cupboards. A second or two later, the clanging of pots, and pans falling fills the apartment. Rouge comes out of the Armory, Reave on her heels.

"What was that?"

"Reave's pet idiot," is Shadow's only reply.

"Jackpot!" Spike appears again, a box of "Chicken in a Biscuit" crackers in his hand.

"Hey, those are mine," Rouge shouts. "You touch those, and I will kill you!"

Spike smiles at her, and then he slowly and deliberately takes a cracker, and eats it. In the next second he's on the ground, and Rouge has him in a headlock. He starts flailing wildly while Shadow, and Reave watch with mild interest.

"Say "Uncle," say it!"

"Shouldn't it be "Aunt" in this-?"

Rouge eventually releases Spike after he promises never to touch her stuff again. Rouge takes her crackers, grabs a can of squirt-cheese, and sits next to Shadow. Shadow stops channel surfing when he finds a news bulletin.

"_The epidemic, now being known as "Mob Syndrome," has now spread to most of America. Experts say that this is the worst epidemic to ever encounter humankind. G.U.N. officials are urging all citizens to head to one of the larger cities in their area, where safe-zones are being created. The only exception is New York, where G.U.N. believes to be Ground Zero for this epidemic. They have confirmed that there are no signs of life anywhere in the city. Back to you…"_

"So they're saying', what, that it's some kinds psychosis?" Spike chucks a cookie at Reave, who catches it neatly between two fingers.

"That's what it looks like," says Rouge. "Though if that really is G.U.N.'s standpoint, what do they want us here for?"

Spike opens his mouth, but Reave shoots the cookie into it before he can speak. "Perhaps it's on "just in case" bases," he says, ignoring the choking noises that Spike is making. "Or maybe it has some connection to why Spike and I were left behind."

"Either way, what would we do about it?" Shadow passes the remote to Rouge, and heads into the kitchen to inspect the fridge. He finds stuff for hamburgers, and starts dinner. He hears laughing in the living room, and glances over. Reave is sitting on the arm of the couch, smiling as he watches the TV. Spike is sitting on the floor, while Rouge is on the couch, and they're both laughing. Shadow glances at the TV, and sees a young adult take the top of a pogo stick to the groin. He sees the title screen, they're watching AFV. Shadow flips the burgers, and glances at the others again.

_They get along already, despite the fact that they only met today._ Shadow has been a lone wolf by nature, but not because he loathes company.

_It's-_

He cuts that thought off; he doesn't want to think about that right now. He puts the patties on buns, and calls out, "Dinner." As he walks into the living room, Spike, and Reave head to the kitchen. Rouge is watching the TV, but Shadow watches her out of the corner of his eye.

"Rouge…"

"Yeah, Shadow?"

"…I forgive you for earlier today, before we left this morning."

Rouge turns her head to look at him. A second or two passes, and then she smiles.

"Well I forgive you too, but…"

Shadow gives her a confused look. She jerks a thumb over her shoulder, "I think the door might take some time to convince."

Shadow chuckles once, "Thank you."

"It's okay, I get it. It's about Maria, right?"

Shadow looks at Rouge, his mouth becoming a flat line. "It wasn't like that."

"But it could have been, some part of you knows that, or you wouldn't have gotten angry. Weather you'll admit it or not, you loved Maria."

Shadow frowns, and not wanting a repeat of that morning, turns to the TV in time to see a cat hissing at its reflection.

"You can love someone without being _in_ love with them, Shadow. You and Maria were as good as brother and sister, right?"

Shadow glances at her out of the corner of his eye, "Maybe…"

"That's one kind of love, and nothing to be ashamed of. I think you're still mourning her, and I don't think she would want to be holding you back from anything."

Shadow blinks, and goes still. A sudden "WHOOP!" followed by a crash, and an "OW!" make them jump in their seats. They watch Reave, and Spike walk back into the room, Spike's rubbing his head.

"What did he do this time," Rouge sighs.

"He spilled my coke, slipped in it, and hit his head."

Rouge laughs, and Shadow catches himself grinning. A blush creeps onto Spikes muzzle as Rouge's radio starts to chatter. She mutes the TV, and pulls out her radio.

"This is agent Rouge, please say again…" she listens intently as a reply comes over, and her eye widen slightly. "Copy that, we'll head out in the morning. Over, and out."

Rouge puts away her Walkie-Talkie, and looks a Shadow. "We've got new orders… Starting tomorrow, we won't be looking over the checkpoints anymore. They want us…"

Shadow raises an eyebrow, "Yes?"

"They want us to find Sonic."

The room is quiet, and Spike says, "Cool, guess we'll need some sleep then?"

"Yeah," Rouge says, coming back to her usual self. "There are some cots in the next room; I'll help you set them up."

Spike, and Rouge go into the next room. Reave looks at Shadow, "I take it you don't like Sonic?"

Shadow nods, "You could say that."


	7. Chapter 7

"SHADOW, KNOCK IT OFF! YOU'RE BREAKING MY ARRRRRRRRRMMMMMMM!"

Shadow blinks, _huh?_ Spike is on the ground in under him, his arm in a break hold by Shadow. His free hand is repeatedly beating the floor, like he's trying to tap out. Shadow lets go, and helps Spike stand up.

"I told you that was a bad idea," Rouge calls from the table. She and Reave are eating French toast, while Spike rubs his shoulder.

"But breakfast was getting cold; I didn't want him to miss out."

Shadow frowns, "If you're smart, you won't do that again. I might not be awake enough next time to stop myself from tearing you apart."

"What's his coffin size?" Rouge goes back to her breakfast.

"4 foot 6 by twelve, I checked about a year ago… just in case." Reave smiles.

"Oh very funny you guys," Spike ignores them, and starts pouring syrup on his toast.

Shadow joins them, "So where do we start looking?"

"Well," Rouge says around a full mouth. "We know a few people who might be able to call him."

Shadow nods, "Understood." Spike looks between them in confusion, but says nothing. After breakfast they head to the armory.

"Better to have it and not need it, than to etc. and so on." Rouge opens the weapons locker, and pulls out her Uzi's. Shadow gets the same weapons he had yesterday, this time putting a bayonet on his shotgun. Reave looks over the weapons, his eyes falling on a pair of bladed Tonfas.

"Expertly sharpened," he notes, and then sheathes them before strapping them onto his waist.

"Should we give him a gun?" Rouge jerks a thumb at Spike. He shakes his head, "Nah, I'm good."

"He'll be fine," Reave says. "Shall we get going?"

Shadow nods, and steps forward pulling out his Chaos Emerald. Reave, and Spike put a hand on either of his shoulders while Rouge presses a hand to his back.

"Chaos Control!"

_**-Beverly Hills, Hollywood-**_

They arrive in the middle of a residential street, and Shadow puts the Chaos Emerald away.

"I don't suppose you ever got her address," Shadow turns to Rouge.

"I don't have to," she flies high into the air. After a few minutes she floats back down to the ground. She points up the street, "Two blocks that way." Shadow raises an eyebrow, but doesn't argue.

"Why don't you go on ahead, let her know that we're coming," Shadow suggests. Rouge nods, and flies off up the street.

Shadow, Reave, and Spike start walking up the street. Before too long Shadow sees what Rouge meant. They come up on the driveway to a huge, pink mansion. They're flanked on either side by roses, and a fountain of Sonic stands in front of the front steps, giving his trademark thumbs up, and grin.

"What the… I didn't know Sonic was a girl." Spike stares stupidly at his surroundings.

"He's not," Shadow says. "But the person who lives here is, and if anyone knows where to find him, she does."

They walk up the steps, and Reave rings the doorbell. A few seconds pass, and Amy Rose opens the door.

"Oh, Shadow thanks for dropping by. It's so nice to see you again." She smiles at him, and then looks past him. Her smile becomes too sweet as she steps around him, "And just where are you going?" Shadow looks, and sees that Spike had managed to sneak down half of the stairs. Spike looks over his shoulder, a look of panic on his face. Abandoning all pretenses, he bolts.

"GET BACK HERE!" Amy charges down the stairs, and summons her hammer. The gates at the end of the driveway close, and Spike crashes into them. He shakes them before turning and pressing his back to them. Amy swings at him baseball-style, and Spike rolls under the blow. Once her other side, he bolts for the house. He waves his arms shouting, "HELP! SHADOW, REAVE, ANYBODY! I'M TELLIN' YA SHE'S INSANE!"

He gets to the bottom of the stairs, and Amy finally catches him, squashing him into the ground. She glares at the sprawled form under her hammer, slightly winded. "Gotcha… you bastard!"

Shadow hears a familiar voice behind him, "It looks like you two know each other." Shadow turns, and comes face to face with Tails.

"I should," Amy says, propping her hammer on her shoulder. "He's my idiot brother."

Fifteen minutes later they're all in Amy's living room. Cream gives Spike an icepack, and Amy brings in some tea while smiling. "I'm glad you all decided to drop by, really I am."

"I'll bet," Spike murmurs, earning him a glare, and a growl from Amy.

"Thank for having us," says Rouge. "I know it's short notice."

"Oh it's no trouble; you see I don't get many welcome visitors."

Reave nods, "Paparazzi?"

She sighs heavily, "Yeah, I thought they would be useful in getting attention so that Sonic could see me no matter where he went." As she said this, her voice started getting dreamy, "every time I get a picture taken I try to send my love into it so that Sonic knows whenever he sees me that there is one person out there that will never stop rooting for him."

"You and every other actress in the world," Spike sneers. Amy slams her tray into the coffee table, and rounds on him.

"What is your problem?! First you run away from home, and worry mom to death; then we don't hear from you, and dad thinks that you're good as dead, and then you show up all unannounced and expect everything to be okay?!"

Spike frowns, "Let's make one thing clear, _Princess,_ I didn't know that we were coming to see _you _of all people. If I had known, then I wouldn't have been here for you to play whack-a-hedgehog with! What, you didn't think I had a reason for leaving?!"

"Then why-" She comes up short when Shadow makes a growling sound in his throat.

"Enough please," his voice is deathly calm. "I couldn't care less about your personal issues, but all this yelling is starting to aggravate me." Spike suddenly starts studying a spot in the carpet, and Amy goes over to clean up her tea-tray.

"… So, why did you leave?" she's calmed down a lot.

"… That's my business." He frowns.

Amy scowls,

but says nothing. Tails clears his throat, "So, is this a social visit, or can we help with something?"

Rouge glances at Shadow, who nods. "We are currently working with G.U.N.," she says. "When the epidemic began, G.U.N. started putting all its manpower into stopping the spread. For the past few days I was posted in New York; that's where I ran into Shadow, Spike, and Reave. Last night we received orders to request the assistance of the Sonic Team. We need your help, all of you, and G.U.N. will offer to reimburse you."

The room is quiet for a moment, and then Amy takes the messy tray back into the kitchen. Cream gets up a moment later, and follows her. Tails looks at the others, and sighs.

"Well, most of the others will be easy enough to contact. Knuckles has been complaining about being bored out of his mind, and will probably jump at this chance. I'll help as much as I can, not that I can do much on the field. Sonic on the other hand…"

Reave frowns, "Has something happened to him?"

Tails flinches, "We don't know, we haven't heard from him in months. He refused to get a cellphone, because Amy would bug him all the time and he never goes off with any destination in mind. For all I know he could be… could be…"

Shadow raises an eyebrow, "I don't see why you're so worried."

Tails glares at him, "Because he's my best friend, you jerk!"

Shadow frowns, "Do you really doubt him that much?"

Tails looks taken aback, "What?"

Shadow stands up, and crosses his arms. "I don't like the faker, but I admit that he can hold his own. I could spend months on end out there with those things abroad, and if I can then he's got a chance."

Tails is stunned, and then he doorbell rings, and Tails picks up a remote. He presses a large red button, the TV flicks on with footage from the surveillance cameras. Shadow growls, "Speak of the devil…

"And he shall appear," Tails finishes excitedly. He runs to the door, and throws it open, "Sonic!"

"Hey little brother, s'up?" the cobalt hedgehog grins.


	8. Chapter 8: Blades, Butts, and aBattering

_**Chapter Eight: Blades, Butts, and a Battering**_

"Sonic," Tails yells again. "Oh man, am I glad to see-!"

Without warning, Shadow leaps across the living room, and smashes his foot into Sonic's face. Sonic goes flying out into the yard, Shadow close behind. He plunges the bayonet on his shotgun into Sonic's head, and breaks it off. He cocks the gun, and then unloads a shell into his head. Finally, Shadow takes a step back, a smile on his face.

"Thanks for showing up, I needed that, Faker."

A horrified scream draws Shadow gaze back to the front door where Amy is standing with all the blood drained from her face. She stumbles down the steps, and then stops. Her eyes go from the body, the Shadow. He sees pure rage, and blood-lust there.

"MURDERER!" She shrieks, and charges at him with her hammer. Shadow takes a defensive stance as she brings the hammer down on his head. He uses the side of his shotgun to deflect the blow, then another, and another.

"To think that I trusted you, that I cared about you, that I comforted you!" Tears spill from her eyes as Shadow manages to lock weapons with her, and send both of their weapons flying.

He grabs her wrists as she charges him again barehanded, "Enough Rose, look-."

"No, I'm done listening to you, you traitor!" Abandoning the use of her arms, she starts kicking anything that she can reach. Rouge runs to them so she can stop Amy from doing something Shadow would never forgive. He glances at Sonic, and freezes.

"...Amy-"

"SHUT UP," she yells. "You brought him here, and after I tear his heart out I'm-!"

"Amy, it's not him!"

Rouge's outburst makes Amy look at her in shock. Afraid of what she'll see, Amy slowly turns her gaze to the corpse. Her water-filled eyes widen with surprise as Sonic's body flickers, and then becomes a thoroughly beaten Metal Sonic. Shadow slowly releases her wrists, and she takes a step back.

"Couldn't even fake the Faker," Shadow says. A confused look comes over Shadow's features as he kneels next to the pile of scrap. He digs his fingers under the top if the chest-plate, and yanks it off in one fluid motion. He reaches inside, and pulls out a faintly glowing red gem.

"Is that... a Chaos Emerald?" Rouge steps up next to Shadow.

He narrows his eyes at it, "... No, it's a fake. There's not enough power coming from it."

"Shadow..." Shadow looks over his shoulder at Amy, who's wiping away tears. "How did you know that wasn't Sonic?"

Shadow raises an eyebrow at her, "What sane reason would _Sonic_ have for coming _here _of all places?"

Amy blinks once, then twice, and then she looks absolutely outraged. She turns on her heel, and storms back into the house. Rouge shakes her head at her partner.

"That was cold, Shadow, I think you might actually regret that later on."

But Shadow isn't listening, he's staring intently into the fake Chaos Emerald.

"Shadow, what's wrong?" Rouge looks at him in confusion.

"I'm not sure..." S_omething's not right, Robotnik would never underestimate us like this. He only uses Metal Sonic when he's serious about destroying someone, or something. Perhaps he doesn't have any real emeralds so he had to make do with a fake? ...I don't think so, Robotnik wouldn't risk his favorite toy like that. Either he's trying to confuse us, or-_

His eyes go wide as a sudden idea flashes through his mind. "MOVE!" he shouts, all but tackling Rouge as he sprint into the house with her. A half-second later the ground where he'd been crouched blew apart.

"Whoa, what's going on out there? Did Metal Sonic just up, and off himself?" Spike is glancing between Shadow, and the door.

"No," Shadow more purrs than growls. "It's even better." He puts the startled Rouge on the couch and walks outside. Once at the foot of the stairs, he looks up, and smiles.

"Hello again, Shadow the Hedgehog." Metal Sonic is hovering a few yards overhead.

Their red eyes meet for a few second, and then Shadow crosses his arms, "You had going there for a minute, I'd like to say I'm impressed, but I'm not." Shadow holds out the fake Chaos Emerald. "Is that really your best shot?"

"Not in the slightest, vermin." Two more Metal Sonics hover downward, one a few yards on either side of him. Shadow glances at the both of them, and then cracks his knuckles.

"Honestly, that only makes this fight three times as pathetic."

"Hey, Reave, there's a party out here!" Shadow looks over his shoulder as Spike and Reave calmly walk down the stairs. Spike stretches, and cracks his neck, "Really, this has to be more fun than hanging out in there. The only channels that Ames bought play nothing but a bunch of cheesy Soap Operas."

"Both of you get back in the house," Shadow says with a slight growl in his voice. "I don't need any help."

"Of course not," Reave says, inspecting a throwing knife before sheathing it on his arm. "But we simply thought it was beneath you to fight any less than the real thing."

"Plus we're bored," Spike whines.

"That too, and so we thought you might appreciate us cleaning up a bit."

Shadow frowns at Reave, and then closes his eyes. After a minute he opens them, and points to the Metal Sonic on the left.

"You're the real one, obviously. Why not let them have a bit of a warm up. After my two have had their battles, I'll fight what's left of your team."

Metal Sonic is quiet for about three seconds, and then he crosses his arms. "My underlings will make short work of your friends, Shadow the Hedgehog. You will not have to wait long for all three of us to kill you."

"Yes master," the other two Metal Sonics say in unison. They all gain altitude, and hover away from the house slightly.

"Oh, me," Spike raises his hand, and begins to hop up and down. "Me, me, let me go first!"

Shadow shares a glance with Reave, and then nods at Spike, "Do as you wish."

Spike hunches his shoulders, and squints one eye at him, "Yeths, Mathster..."

Reave does a facepalm, and Shadow gives him a hard look.

Spike abandons his Igor impression, and steps forward. He holds a regal hand out to the Metal Sonics, "May I have this dance, mam?" The center Metal Sonic drops to the ground with a "CLANG," and glares at Spike. "Ooh, a feisty one," he summons his sword, and holds it blade-down like he's going to stab someone. He holds his sword against his hip, and stands bow-legged like a cowboy.

"Alright, varmint, make your move." Metal Sonic charges Spike who barely dodges to the side in time. Spike starts running, the fake Metal Sonic in close pursuit. Spike suddenly turns, grabbing the robot, and burying its head in the trunk of an oak tree. The rockets die as the fake Metal Sonic yanks his head free, and then reignites them to gain altitude.

Spike runs at him, using his sword to preform an awkward, yet accurate pole-vault. This takes the fake by surprise, and it takes a full second before it registers to dodge. He's not fast enough as Spike spins in midair, and slices off both of the fake's legs. Without the rocket on the bottoms of its feet, the fake begins to spin out of control. It tries to regain control by turning off the rockets on its back, but not soon enough to stop it from doing a mad impression of a bowling ball as it crashes into a tree. Spike lands on his feet, and props his sword on his shoulder. He faces his opponent, and watches in amusement as the fake uses its arms to set itself right-side-up.

Spike stabs his sword into the ground behind him, turns around, and moons what's left of the robot.

"You insolent little rat!" the fake uses his rockets to preform a Spin-dash right at Spike. Spike jumps, and balances on the top of his sword as the fake stupidly cuts itself in half on it. Spike fixes his pants, and flips off of his sword.

"And the rest," he says with a bow. "Is silence..." His sword vanishes in a wisp of black smoke as he pulls another fake Chaos Emerald from inside the robot. He walks over to where Shadow, and Reave stand. "So how was that?"

"A little dignity would have been nice," Shadow says.

"I've been saying that for years," Reave steps forward. Another Metal Sonic drops to the ground. "Shadow?" Reave doesn't look over his shoulder, instead keeping his cold, gold eyes on his opponent.

"It's a fake," Shadow says, and Reave nods.

"May you die with honor," Reave draws his Tonfas, and whirls then in a blinding storm of steel before taking a fighting stance. The fake darts directly over Reave, his right arm transforming into a flamethrower. Reave rolls to the side as a fireball comes down on the ground where he used to be. He grabs a knife from his belt, throwing it directly into the muzzle of the flamethrower , causing it to explode. The fake examines the remaining half of his arm before barreling through the air at the cat. Reave flips out of the way, preforming a series of acrobatics with startling flexibility, and agility, even for a cat.

Once on his feet again, Reave throws a series of throwing knives with speed that defies logic. Shadow watches with interest as the knives bury themselves first between the eyes, then the neck, then the heart, then the solar-plexus, and finally in the groin. The fake begins to twitch uncontrollably, though he is still hovering stably. Reave leaps ten feet into the air, throws a pair of knives into the the thrusters on the fake's back. Propelled by the thrusters on his feet, the fake pinwheels backwards towards Reave's descent. His Tonfas hiss as he slices them in such a way that the fakes head is both removed, and cut in two.

Reave sheathes his Tonfas, and stands tall. When the body finally comes down to earth, Reave calmly retrieves the fake Chaos emerald from his defeated adversary, and returns to the steps. He, and Shadow nod to each other in respect, and then Shadow steps forward.

"I think it's time we ended this game," Shadow cracks his neck.

Metal Sonic stares at Shadow for a moment, "You have powerful allies, do you give your word that they won't interfere?"

Shadow looks over his shoulder, "Not if they value their lives they won't." Spike holds up his hands as if to say "not me". Reave crosses his arms, his face impassive. Shadow looks back at Metal Sonic, "There's your answer, and since I'm in a generous mood, I'll let you make the first move."

Metal Sonic rises higher into the air, "I will not be goaded into my own demise so easily, Shadow the Hedgehog, I know what you are capable of. The Doctor may have selected you, but I will not have it! Until we meet again." In a flash of violet light, Metal Sonic vanishes.

All is quiet for a few seconds, and then Spike speaks up, "You have got to be kidding me, what was that?!"

"That," Shadow says, turning. "Is Metal Sonic demonstrating that he is far smarter than his creator." Shadow approaches the steps where Rouge has joined them.

"Well, that was nice, but what now?" she shrugs her shoulders.

"We still have orders to complete," Reave says. "We should stick to our mission."

A crashing sound in the trees had all four of them pointing weapons. Shadow warped behind the trees where they had heard the sound, and found a slight figure on the ground. The brown bat looks cross-eyed at the gun in her face, and raises her hands high above her head.

"D-d-d-don't shoot me! Please, I-I-I-'m with G.U.N.!"

"Oh brother," Shadow looks up to see a thoroughly bored looking Rouge. "What are you doing here, Cocoa?"

**XD Sorry if I scared anyone in the begining, NOT! Betcha didn't see that coming! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! PLease reveiw!**


	9. Chapter 9

_**Chapter Nine: To find an Egg in a Chicken House**_

"Who is she," Shadow trains his crimson eyes on the quivering bats tawny ones.

"Agent Cocoa," Rouge says, gliding out of the tree, and standing next to Shadow. "One of G.U.N.'s Intelligence officers, a desk jockey really. What she's doing here I have no idea."

Cocoa swallows, "I-I-I was sent to t-tail M-Metal Sonic, I swear!"

Rouge narrows her eyes, "You were always a terrible liar, Cocoa, I don't know why you even try."

"What I want to know," Shadow says, clicking back the hammer on his gun. "Is why she feels the need to lie in the first place."

Cocoa widens her eyes, and her complexion goes from milk-chocolate to caramel. "Oh Chaos," she squeaks, and faints. Reave raises an eyebrow, "She fainted?" shadow points his gun into the air, and shoots, making Spike jump. Cocoa doesn't even twitch in response.

Shadow sighs, "Well she's not faking. Let's get her inside, get Cream to wake her up, and maybe we can get some real answers." Shadow holsters his gun, and walks off. Reave picks up the unconscious Cocoa, and follows after the others.

About an hour or so later, Cocoa's eye blink open. She's on Amy's couch, a blanket wrapped around her, and a wet washcloth folded on her forehead. Cream is standing nearby, Cheese, her pet Chao, standing on the coffee-table.

"Oh, good, you're awake!" Cream smiles down at the bat who smiles back. Cocoa looks past them to see Rouge looking over in her direction.

She gets up, "Thank you, Cream, now I need to have a talk with her."

Cocoa looks around in a panic, her eyes searching for Shadow. She sees him over by the window, examining the fake Chaos Emeralds. He doesn't look over, not interested in the revived agent.

Rouge sits on the couch, "Now, Cocoa, please be honest with me. Why are you here? I'm sorry that we scared you earlier, but we would like to know please.

Cocoa takes the washcloth of her forehead, and wipes her face with it, nodding. "I'm sorry that I lied, but... well... you, and I don't really get along that well. I thought that if I didn't have a better reason for being here, then you wouldn't even try to tolerate me."

"Please," Rouge says, rolling her eyes. "You might annoy me sometimes, but I don't hate you, Cocoa. So come on, tell me the truth."

Cocoa gulps, and starts wringing the washcloth. "Well, with the epidemic the way it is, G.U.N. Is kinda shorthanded, so even office workers like me are being put in the field. You're right, I wasn't ordered to tail Metal Sonic, but I thought I could make it work to... anyways, my orders came in yesterday that I was being reassigned to work with you. I knew that you would treat me like a burden, so I didn't make my presence known right away... I'm so sorry."

"Hey, it's okay, but how did you know where to find us? I was stationed in New York at the time, so how did you get here in time?"

Cocoa scratches the back of her head, "Well I had been told that you were supposed to recruit the Sonic Team to help us, so I thought that I would just rendezvous with you here. Heh, I got here too late though to be of any help."

"Meh, I wouldn't say that," Rouge leans forward a bit. "you had the sense to know where' we were headed. That's you thinking like an agent in my book."

Cocoa smile, but then frowns when she looks at Shadow, "Are you sure it's okay to work with him though? I mean, he..."

"I know," Spike says in a comforting voice, leaning on the back of the couch. "He scares me too."

Reave whacks him in the back of the head, "Ow! Hey, man, don't you ever get tired of that?"

"You have no idea, but for some reason I just can't help myself."

Cocoa giggles, and Rouge pats her shoulder, "I know Shadow looks like a scary guy, but he's a good guy. I trust him."

Cocoa looks at her then nods, "Then that's good enough for me."

Rouge smiles, "Then welcome aboard, Agent Cocoa. This is Reave, and Spike, two of Shadow's associates."

"Nice to meetcha!"

"A pleasure."

"Now," Rouge stands up. "I think Cream is about finished with lunch, better hurry up before it gets... Hey, where did Spike go?"

"Guess," Reave rolls his eyes. He heads for the dining room, and Cocoa gets up to follow. Rouge calls in on her radio, and then joins Shadow at the window.

"Well, did you hear all that?"

"I did," Shadow sets one of the fake emeralds down. "And what's the verdict?"

Rouge sighs, "Well her story checks out, G.U.N. has ordered her to work with us."

A beat of silence, and then Shadow says, "Will she slow us down?"

Rouge frowns, "Most likely, yeah. Cocoa is still wet behind the ears, a total rookie as an agent. Her only field experience was with me, and that was about five years ago."

"Hmph," Shadow picks up the emerald again.

"Maybe we can convince one of the others to babysit her. I'll talk with Reave, if we get Spike to do it she might get hurt while he's showing off."

"Yeah, but..." Shadow is focused on the emerald again.

"...Okay, Shadow, please tell me that there's a prize in that thing, because not liking how much you're zoning out with it."

He looks up at her, and then puts the fake emeralds away. "There's just something bothering me, but I think I'll wait until the others are here."

The doorbell rings, and Shadow looks out of the window. Cream checks the camera before opening the door, and letting Knuckles in.

"Thanks for coming, Mr. Knuckles!" Cream squeaks. "We have lunch in the dining room, grilled cheese!"

"Thanks, Cream," Knuckles glances around before narrowing his eyes at Rouge, and Shadow. He doesn't say anything, but just follows Cream to the promise of food.

Rouge calls them all into the living room when they're done eating.

"Well, I guess there's not much more to explain that you all don't already know. Since Knuckles agreed to join us we're almost set to go. I've called into G.U.N., and they are adamant about wanting Sonic with us. The only thing left is how do we find him?"

The room is quiet, and then Tails speaks up, "What about a Telecast? Once Sonic sees that, he'll come, right?"

"That's assuming he's anywhere near a TV," Reave points out. "If he's out in the country them it will be like yelling at a deaf man."

Shadow recalls what it was like to be all alone in the wilderness, if Sonic was like that, then there was no way to contact him.

"Did he say anything to anyone about what he was planning to do?" Rouge looks around hopefully, but no one has anything to offer.

Knuckles frowns, and looks at Cocoa, "And of course G.U.N. Intelligence doesn't have anything to offer us."

Cocoa sits up, "Well, as a matter of fact, I might have something worth adding." Knuckles turns to her, and she shrinks back a little. "Ahem, um, to the best of my knowledge the last sighting G.U.N. Has on Sonic was a little over half a year ago out at sea."

"Hey," Tails is rubbing his chin. "Come to think of it, that's when I last saw him too. Eggman was trying to capture a oil refinery so he could have all the emergency fuel he could ever need. Sonic had come to me asking for a ride, but I couldn't find him after Eggman had run away."

Cocoa nods, "The refinery is running now, so it's been confirmed that Sonic isn't there."

"He must have left somehow,"Amy says. "But how?"

Cocoa shrugs, "No one knows, or at least G.U.N. doesn't. If we knew, then we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"What about Fatty," Spike says, scratching his head. "How'd he get away."

"Well the Egg-Carrier was there that day," Tails looks up at the others. "You think it's possible that Sonic got beamed onto it with Eggman?"

Cocoa scratches her chin, "It's a possibility, but I don't think we can investigate that lead. First, we probably don't have the time to search it; second, we don't know where it is; and third, Eggman could be behind the epidemic, we could wind up walking into a trap."

"But it's our only lead," Shadow's voice comes from the stairway. "Rouge, we can get permission to go after it if we have nothing else, right?"

Rouge, and Cocoa share a look, and then she nods, "Yeah, I think so."

"Then we might have all that we need out on the lawn. If we can get those piles of scrap back to a laboratory, then we can probably find a flight record." Shadow looks at Tails, "Right?"

Tails nods, "If they're not too damaged, then I might be able to come up with something."

Shadow nods, "Rouge, call it in. Spike, Reave, help me get these things to the kid's lab."

"Hey, who made you the leader?" Knuckles crosses his arms.

"Do you have a better idea?" Shadow stares at Knuckles, who says nothing. "At any rate, I wasn't talking to you. You're free to help if you want, I don't care."

"Um, ahem, w-what about me?" Cocoa stands up.

Shadow looks her up, and down, and then says, "Why don't you come with us? If something happens, Rouge can call you up, and vice verse." Shadow walks outside, and picks up one of the fallen fake Metal Sonics. He watches Spike, and Reave do the same, and then they stop. Cocoa comes out with Tails.

"My lab isn't too far from here, I'll go get the Tornado."

"Maybe it's time you just got a car," Amy steps out, And tosses Tails a set of keys. He presses a button, and the garage opens, revealing two convertible sports cars. One is a hot pink color, and the other a royal blue.

"Let me guess," Spike tosses his Metal Sonic into the trunk of the blue one. "This one was supposed to be for Sonic?"

Amy blushes, "O-of course not! What would Sonic want with a car? I just bought it because it reminds me of him, that's all."

"Right, I'll believe that... never," Spike ducks as Reave takes a swing at his head. "HA!" Spike sticks out his tongue, and Reave gives his chin a light uppercut, just enough to make him bite it.

"Thank you," Amy waves, and walks back into the house. Tails hops into the driver seat while Shadow takes shotgun. Spike sits behind Shadow, and Cocoa sits between him, and Reave. Tails starts the car, and they take off down the road.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Chapter Ten: Pondering, and Preparations**_

Shadow, Reave, and Spike carry the Fakes into the lower levels of Tails's lab, and set them on examination tables. Reave had taken the opportunity to retrieve his knives from the fake he had fought. Tails walks over to a tool box, and pulls out a screwdriver.

"Thanks for the help guys, I'll let you know what I come with in about a half-hour." With a nod, everyone but Tails heads back up to his house.

"Being a G.U.N. weapons designer must pay very well," Spike note, taking in the luxuries around him.

"Oh, he doesn't just make weapons," says Cocoa. "He also designed our latest means of transportation, and he even upgraded our computer network a few weeks ago." Spike isn't listening anymore, he's already fount the wall-sized TV, and the cable remote.

Shadow walks out the front door, and hops into a tree, and then onto the roof. He stares at the horizon, not really taking it in. Tails's lab is on a sheer cliff overlooking the ocean, and the sun is getting low in the sky, but Shadow can only see his thoughts.

_Why is this bothering me so much? Metal Sonic has gone AWOL before, so why do I get the impression that this time it's different? _Shadow takes out the fake emeralds again. Two of them are red, but the last is silver. _What does this mean?_

A pair of thuds behind Shadow makes him turn his head; Reave, and Cocoa are standing there. Shadow watches as Reave comes over to stand next to him.

"There's something bothering you, Shadow." Reave doesn't say it as a question, and Shadow passes his one of the red fake emeralds.

"I've only seen fake Chaos emeralds once before, and the kid downstairs was the one who made it." Reave says nothing, waiting for Shadow to continue. "The emerald at the time was an exact copy of the real emerald we were after when I was working with Dr. Robotnik on the ARK. That might have been intention, but looking at these I'm beginning to wonder if it's necessary."

Reave raises his eyebrows slightly at the news that Shadow had worked with Eggman, but says, "Perhaps we should speak with Mr. Prowers to see if that is indeed true."

"Um," Cocoa shuffles her feet as she comes closer. "Actually... I, uh..."

Shadow says nothing, but watches her closely. Reave nods to her, "Go on, Cocoa."

She clears her throat, "Ahem, well, most of the vehicles that Tails gave us needed a lot of power to run, so he gave us the method to making fake Chaos Emeralds. He, uh, he told us that it was safer to make exact copies of the emeralds than to try and tamper with their makeup, otherwise we run the risk of something extremely powerful, and unstable."

Shadow nods, "Thank you, Agent Cocoa." She meets his eyes, and gives a small smile. Shadow looks at the emeralds in his hands, "That means that Robotnik has two chaos emeralds."

"Or that he has had the chance to study, and replicate at least two of them." Reave contemplates the gem in his hand. "It's possible that any that he had may have fallen out of his possession."

Shadow nods, and holds up the silver emerald, "When we were fighting Metal Sonic, I felt that the emerald powering him had an energy signature similar to this one."

"That means that if Eggman had two, then he only has one right now," Cocoa cocks her head to the side slightly. "But without an investigation we can't be sure. We'll need Tail's to help us track the Egg-Carrier, and we'll need permission from HQ."

Shadow looks up, and the others follow his gaze. Rouge lands on the roof, and walks over to them. "It wasn't easy," she says. "But G.U.N. Gave us the green-light. If Tails can pull anything off that scrap down there, then we are ready to go."

Shadow nods, and Reave fills her in on what they had been discussing.

"Huh," Rouge says. "Well why would Eggman be trying to collect the emeralds _now? _He wouldn't go after them unless he had a plan, because the minute he got his hands on one of them, Sonic would be after him."

They're quiet for a moment, and then Reave says, "Assuming that Eggman is responsible for the epidemic, do you think maybe he did it to distract others from him so that he could collect all seven without a problem?"

"Maybe... Shadow, what do you think?" Rouge looks at him.

Shadow closes his eyes, arms crossed, and foot tapping, "Something still doesn't fit. Metal Sonic had said that Robotnik had _chosen _me, but for what he didn't say."

Rouge frowns, "I don't think that I like the sound of that."

"Me neither," Shadow opens his eyes. "But whatever it was, it was enough to make Metal Sonic go AWOL, and that bothers me even more."

Rouge's radio hisses something at her, and she pulls it out, "This is Agent Rouge, over." She listens to the radio, and then her eyes go wide with alarm. She swallows, "Negative, sir, we are searching an important lead that cannot be moved elsewhere for the time being." A garbled reply comes back over the radio, and she nods, "Copy that, over and out."

She slowly puts her radio away, and then shakes herself, "Bad news, G.U.N. Wasn't able to contain the spread of the Zombies. Apparently one of those that they helped evacuate from New York hid his/her bite, and ended up infecting an entire shelter not far from here. By the time they knew something was wrong, it had spread too far to be contained."

"How much time do we have," Shadow uncrossed his arms.

"Five, maybe ten minutes."

Shadow went into warrior mode, "I'll go get Rose, and the others; the rest of you bunker down here, and get ready to defend this lab at all costs. If it falls, then each of you might as well put a bullet in your mouth. It'll be better than the alternative anyways."

They nod, Cocoa a little hesitantly. Shadow pulls out his Chaos Emerald, and holds the green gem high.

"Chaos Control!"

_**-Amy Rose's Residence, Beverly Hills-**_

Shadow appears on Amy's doorstep, and opens the door without knocking. He finds Knuckles dashing from room to room, and Amy tearing cushions off of the couch.

"They have to be around here someplace!" She yells, and then she spots Shadow. "Nevermind, Knuckles, Shadow's here!"

Knuckles dashes into the living-room, panting heavily, "Never... in my life... have I thought... that I would... be glad to... see you..."

"I found them!" Cream runs down the stairs, a pink set of keys in her hands.

Shadow looks at the TV, and sees an emergency news broadcast telling everyone to evacuate to a safe location. "I see you heard," he says. "Rouge only just got the news."

"We're planning to go to Tails's lab," Cream squeaks. "We think it'll be safer there."

"Well, grab what you need, we need to head out soon. Rouge thinks we have ten minute tops before shit hits the fan."

"Language!" Amy scolds him, earning her a glare.

"Good," Knuckles says, cracking his fists. "I've been itching for a fight for some time now."

Shadow nods to him, and looks at Amy, "And what about you?"

"Are you kidding," She shrieks at him, fire in her eyes. "If those thing take the lab, then I'll never find Sonic! You can bet your manhood that I'm going to fight!'

Knuckles winces, and Cream looks at the floor, "I'm not a fighter, so I don't know what good I'll be..."

"We may not be able to hold them off indefinitely," Shadow says. "So Miles will need to work fast. We'll put you down in the lab with him as his assistant, if you think you're up to it."

Cream nods, and Shadow holds out the Chaos Emerald. First Amy, then Cream, and finally Knuckles put a hand on top of it.

"Chaos Control!"

_**-Tails's Laboratory, Los Angeles-**_

They arrive inside Tails's living room in a flash of green light. Cream hurries downstairs to the lab as Rouge runs up to them.

"Tails is waiting in the lab to explain a battle plan, hurry!" She runs to the lab, the others close behind. They find Tails typing furiously on a computer.

"Alright, Tails," Rouge says. Tails doesn't look up from his work as he fills them in on his defense plan.

"G.U.N. helped me instal a lot of security measures into this place in case Eggman attacked. There's the electric fence about sixty meters away from the main building, which is the only entrance to my underground laboratory. I don't expect that to hold for very long, so I had four laser turrets set up on the roof. They are designed to scan, then blast a target in less than half a second. Right now I'm setting them to blast anything that follows the same movement pattern as these Zombies. I've also put all of our images into the computer to recognize us as non-targets, so there's no fear of getting shot accidentally.

"The turrets have a range for fifty-five meters to twenty meters, which I've already marked off with glow-in-the-dark field-paint outside. You guys will have to stay on the side of the line closer to the building, and take out anything that crosses that line. The turrets will take out their numbers considerably, so I'm Confident that you won't be heavily swarmed."

"What do we do if one of us gets bit?" Knuckles's question makes the room go quiet, and Tails falters in his typing for a moment.

"In that case, I'm afraid that one of you will have to deal with it."

Cream gasps, and begins to cry. Tails stops typing, and pulls her into an embrace, making soothing noises.

"I'll do it." They all look at Shadow in horror. "Out of all of us I'm least likely to be bitten. I won't let any of you suffer."

no one knows how to quite take that, and then Cocoa says, "Before I was reassigned, I was in charge of the study of these Zombies. While we couldn't find anything in the blood that could be the source of the infection, we did discover that it takes a full twenty-four hours after contact for the infection to take full effect. In the initial four hours, the victim only experiences slight fatigue. After that they develop a nasty cough that has them coughing blood in about an hour. About two hours after that the victim loses all strength, and is bed-ridden until death in ten hours. After the remaining time has passed, they rise again as a Zombie."

"How could G.U.N. have found all that out," Knuckles narrows his eyes at her.

"It doesn't matter at the moment," Reave says. "What this tells us is that if we are bitten, then we have a few more hours left to fight before being put out of our misery. We have a battle plan, now lets get to it!"

Most of them nod, and then everyone except for Tails, and Cream start to head out.

"Wait," Tails calls to them. He opens a cabinet, and pulls out some ear-pieces. "Use these to keep in touch." He gives one to everyone, and puts one on himself. "Good luck guys."

They dart up the stairs, and outside, taking up defensive positions. Rouge looks over at Cocoa who cocks a sniper-rifle.

"Where did you get that?"

"Tails," She says, looking through the scope at some trees. "Handy, this thing uses lasers instead of bullets."

"Are you sure..." Rouge looks at the younger agent doubtfully. Cocoa gives her a cocky grin that Rouge has never seen on her face before.

"After my mission with you, I started putting in a stupid amount of practice time. Though many would dispute the matter, I'm probably G.U.N.'s best Sniper."

Rouge stares at her, and then smiles, "Alright, do your thing!" Cocoa snaps her a salute, and then climbs the side of the building behind them. She sticks to the wall while turning, and levels the gun in the direction the Zombies will be coming from.

Amy calls up her hammer, and Spike calls up his sword. They look at each other, and then Spike pulls her into a hug. "If we make it through this in one piece," he says. "I swear I'll tell you everything." She nods against his shoulder, tears in her eyes.

Shadow takes point, Rouge on his right, and Reave on his left. Rouge draws her Uzi's, and Shadow passes her one of the knives from his belt. Reave draws his Tonfas, choosing to attack from a distance only if he has to. Knuckles stands on the other side of Reave, and putts on his Shovel-Claws. He figures they can do a little impression of Brass-Knuckles. Spike, and Amy take up positions on the other end of the line, next to Rouge.

Shadow turns his head back, and forth as he speaks to the group, "Just a reminder, go for the heads. Don't let them surround you, but if they do just remember that fighting overwhelming odds is best done back-to-back. Pick a partner, and stick with them!"

Spike, and Amy take a step closer to each other. Reave, and Knuckles nod to each other, and take fighting stances.

"Shadow," Rouge looks at him. "I-"

"It's been an honor knowing you," Shadow cuts her off, and her eyes widen slightly. "And you have my word, all of you, that I will do everything in my power to see each of you off this battlefield alive."

"We got your back, Shadow." Spike throws his a thumbs-up.

"Today we will repay our debt," Reave says with a smile. "Perhaps you will owe _us _after this."

"We won't let you down," Amy give Shadow a warm smile.

"You're a jerk, but what the hell? Let's do this!" Knuckles grins.

Rouge smiles at Shadow, who returns it. They shake hands, and face out towards the gate.

"Targets sighted," Cocoa says, looking through her scope. "About two minutes out!"

Shadow glance to his left at the setting sun, _Perhaps I will be joining you soon, Maria._

It's a long two minutes, but eventually they start to hear the hissing, groaning, and scraping sounds of the Zombies.

"Aw, shit," Spike says, and everyone looks at him out of the corner of his, or her eye. "We haven't even had dinner yet!"


	11. Chapter 11

_**Chapter Eleven: Sayonara**_

Before the first Zombie hits the fence, Cocoa shoots it through the head. A blue beam of light, no bigger than a pencil neatly flies through the links in the fence, and burns a hole between the Zombie's eyes.

"What are you doing?!" Rouge calls over her shoulder.

"Getting used to this gun," Cocoa calls back, taking down more Zombies as she speaks. "And at the same time getting rid of as many as I can beforehand."

"Aren't you going to run out of ammo that way," Rouge begins to eye her Uzi's doubtfully now.

"Nope," Cocoa downs three more. "Nuclear power cell, this baby won't run out of juice until next century."

"Oh, crap," Tails's voice comes over the communicators. "I'd meant to give you all some similar weapons. Just a couple of handguns, but I thought they could be useful."

"I can run them upstairs, Tails," comes Cream's voice. "Where are they?"

"In that chest over there."

"This one?"

"No, the white one."

"Okay, I found them. I'm coming!"

the line of fighters don't remove their eyes from the fence as Cream emerges, giving each of them a gun. Knuckles looks at his doubtfully, and passes it to Reave. Everyone else, including Cocoa, readies their weapons for the attack.

When the first Zombie hits the fence, it's blown backwards with a blast of blue lightning. The other Zombies take no notice, and begin to swarm the fence. Pretty soon the fence begins to look like a Mad Scientist's idea of a Bug-Zapper, all the while Cocoa is picking off as many as she can. The Zombies in the from are soon pressed to the fence by the weight of those behind them, and are fried in seconds. As the front ones fall, and begin to pile, yet more push against the fence.

"Maybe it'll hold them after all?" Spike glance around hopefully.

"No," Reave says morosely. "Pretty soon the bodies will pile high enough that the ones in the back will be insulated from the shock. After that, it's only a matter of time before the weight pushes the gate over." Sadly, Reave is soon proven right. The sparks stop, and the fence begins to creak in protest. Then they hear the sound of metal snapping, and the fence falls over.

The first few Zombies who walk over their fallen kin are fried as soon as their feet touch exposed metal. This only serves to pave a safe road for those who walk over them. Fortunately the way the fence broke acts like a funnel, and only five to six can get through the opening at a time. Above Cocoa, the double-barreled laser turrets come to life, and start blasting Zombies apart. As each Zombie gets hit, it's thrown backward from the force of the lasers, usually knocking over the Zombie behind it. They all start to grin as the ground become littered with corpses, it's starting to look like they can win this as the onslaught is slowed from tripping over their fallen.

Soon the bodies are piling in such a way that the Zombies are choosing to go around them. Shadow notices that they are still gaining ground, little by little.

"Spread out," he says over the communicators. "Stay on our side of the line, crossing it will only interfere with the turrets. Knuckles, Reave, I want you two to take the left side. Spike, Rose, I want you two on the right. Rouge, and I will provide back-up if need be. Cocoa, keep helping those turrets, but don't shoot the ones just coming through the fence. I know it's a tempting target, but if you do, then they'll just open the fence wider. Try to make them separate wider from each other, and thin out one side if it starts to get too much larger than the other."

They all nod, and take off to preform their tasks. Shadow, and Rouge start shooting lasers at the Zombies trying to come up the center after going around the pile of bodies, forcing a wedge-like divider in the oncoming ranks.

"They're only piled as high as their shins," Spike notes. "Why don't they just climb over themselves?"

"They appear to have some kind of instinct to stay on their feet," Reave replies. "My guess is they only ignore that instinct when they no longer have feet."

"Well there's a pleasant thought," comes Amy's voice.

"Miles," Shadow says. "How are you doing on your end?"

"I'm almost done with the taking them apart," comes the reply. "You guys didn't leave much intact of them to begin with."

"That was kinda the idea," Spike says with a grin.

"SHUT UP, SPIKE!" everyone yelled, except for Cream who put a "Mr." in front of Spike's name.

"Anyways," Tails continues, the main CPU appears to be in the head, along with all the memory chips. I'm trying to separate the ones I can actually look over from the ones that are totally destroyed."

"Keep it up," Shadow says. "We can't hold them off forever, and they'll be coming face-to-face with us soon, I'll bet."

"On top of that it's getting dark out here," Rouge notes. The sun is almost completely set, and they're fighting by the flashing red lights the laser turrets are making. Shadow glances to his left, and sees Reave absolutely murdering the Zombies. He has a gun in each hand, and is dropping enemies so fast it would make a Gatling-gun blush in shame.

On the right Spike, and Amy are going slower, but are still doing well. Cocoa is helping them the most, and their Zombies are closer to the line.

"Keep it up, Reave, Rouge, and I are going to help the others push them back."

"Roger," Reave doesn't even blink as he continues his onslaught. Shadow, and Rouge dash to their right, and start wasting Zombies. Before long they've made a barricade that is forcing the Zombies to go further back, and to the side before trying to approach again.

"Miles..."

"I think I've collected all the useable chips, I'm beginning analysis. Keep your fingers crossed, there's not much left of most of these chips, and I might be able to find something."

"I don't suppose you could go any faster, could you," Amy says with a grunt. "I'm missing most of mine out here."

"I can try..."

Shadow glares at the oncoming Zombies, _We're just delaying them. If only we had some way to detour them for good. _Shadow glances at Reave, and then an idea hits him like a truck.

"Reave, double time it over there! Push them back to the edge of the turrets' range, and keep them moving sideways."

"You got a plan, man?" Spike glances at him, noticing his change in attitude.

"Try not to shoot me."

"WHAT?!" everyone yells, and Shadow dashes onto the battlefield. He skates to the farthest right flank of the Zombies, and starts using homing attacks on their heads. He flips back, and nods at the line of corpses he made, and starts shooting Zombies into a pile as they approach him. Before long they're completely blocked off on the right side.

"Should I do the same for this side," Reave asks.

"No," Shadow replies, shooting more of them, "If you do that then we'll just have a repeat of the fence. Keep routing them to the left." Shadow keeps piling the corpses until the have no choice, but to go to the left.

"And just what is this supposed to accomplish?!" Knuckles growls, he's bored for being left out of the fight.

"He's running them off of the cliff!" Amy shrieks with glee. Everyone's eye widen, and then they start cheering. Shadow ignores them, dashing back to the line to help Reave.

"Okay," Comes Tails's voice. "I've copied as much of the data from the chips as I can, now I just need to cross-reference the data with terms related to the Egg-Carrier. It looks like it'll take maybe a half-hour, can you hold out until then?"

"No sweat," Spike says, and they all run to Shadow's side.

"Get back over there," he growls at them. "If those thing manage to break though over there, then you need to be there to drop them fast."

They nod, and Spike runs back to his position with his sister. Cocoa is still sniping, helping Reave, and Shadow as much as she can.

"In another half-hour we should have these things going for a swim," she says. "I think we can win this!"

Suddenly the Turrets stop firing, and a second later floodlight illuminate the lawn.

"What was that?!" Cream squeaks. "The power went out for a second there."

"Shit!" Tails growls. "The back-up generators are working in here, but they're not enough to power the turrets!"

Most of them hadn't realized until then how much they were relying on the turrets. Reave is still shooting, but the Zombies are gaining ground once again.

"Yes, this will do quite nicely."

They all look up, in Reave's case only momentarily, and see Metal Sonic hovering over the hoards of Zombies.

"Metal Sonic!" Shadow growls.

"He must have cut the main power!" Tails yells.

"This is pathetic, Metal Sonic!" Shadow glares at him. "Do you really think that _this _can stop me?!"

"Of course not," Metal Sonic replies coolly. "At least, not if you were by yourself, but I highly doubt you would do anything to risk harming your comrades."

Shadow gave Metal Sonic his Death-Glare, _he's right! Damn it!_

"It's unfortunate," Metal Sonic continues, unfazed. "The only thing that Robotnik has ever succeeded at is failing." he laughs a bone-chilling laugh. "It looks like he won't be able to use you after all, dear Shadow the Hedgehog."

"Use him for what?!" Rouge screams, backing up Reave as best she can.

"Now that would be telling," Metal Sonic wags a finger at her. "I guess you'll have to die with that question unanswered." The air around Metal Sonic begins to glow with a violet hue.

"Sayonara... Shadow the Hedgehog!" and he uses Chaos Control to disappear in a flash of purple light.

Shadow's eyes go wide, and he bares his fangs. Red chaos energy begins to cascade around him. Metal Sonic had done it... He'd said those words... Maria's last words!

Shadow faces the oncoming hoard, burning with hate. He warps into their midst, tearing them apart with his bare hands. Zombies grab him, but those he doesn't kill outright are fried as they bring their heads close. The others watch in horror as the undead swarm over Shadow, obscuring him from view.

"Chaos Blast!"

The Zombies aren't just thrown, and fried, they are disintegrated by the wave of Chaos Energy. Shadow stands tall in the center of the carnage, red energy still rolling off of him. His hands to glow gold as he gathers energy there.

"Chaos Spear!" he throws his hands at the hoard of Zombies, ten golden bolts of light ripping apart Zombies by the dozen.

"What's going on up there," Tails exclaims. "World War 3?!"

"Close enough," Rouge says. She, and the others are frozen with shock. They hadn't expected anyone, even Shadow, capable of this kind of blood-lust. He charges into the ranks of Zombies, and onto the other side of the fence. The Zombies on the side with their fallen turn, and follow Shadow outside of the compound. A few minutes pass, and they can't see anything in the forest surrounding the fence. Then they see the light of Shadow using Chaos Blast, and then another, and another. The forest begins to glow orange, and flames begin to peak over the edges of the trees.

Shadow steps out of the gloom, the red Chaos Energy fading from his features. Creaking comes from the forest as trees topple, but the sound of Zombies is absent. He climbs over the corpses, and stumbles a little with fatigue. As he approaches the group, they can see that he's breathing heavily.

He's halfway across the lawn when he stumbles again, this time falling to one knee. The others start to move towards him but he holds up a hand, the look in his eyes not entirely gone yet.

Suddenly, a blue figure drops from the night sky, and lands next to Shadow with a "CLANG!" Shadow looks to his right sharply, and sees Mecha Sonic standing there. The others aim their weapons at him, but he ignores them, putting a force-field around himself, and Shadow.

Shadow staggers to his feet, and tries to collect Chaos Energy in his fists. His hands glows faintly gold for a moment, and then it fades. He pulls out his gun, and aims it at Mecha Sonic's head.

Without warning, Mecha Sonic kneels on one knee, and says, "Shadow the Hedgehog, Dr. Ivo Robotnik has invited you to join him on the Egg-Carrier. I have been instructed to guide you, and whomever you bring with you to its location, should you accept."


	12. Chapter 12

_**Chapter Twelve:Expect the Unexpected**_

Shadow blinks, his gun still trained on Mecha Sonic's bowed head.

"Excuse me?"

"Shadow the Hedgehog, Dr. Ivo Robotnik has invited you to join him on the Egg-Carrier. I have been instructed to guide you, and whomever you bring with you to its location, should you accept."

Shadow frowns, "And how do I know this isn't a trap?"

"It may very well be, I am just following orders."

Shadow is thinking hard, A_ssuming that the invitation is sincere, does that mean that Robotnik isn't behind those Zombies? He said I could bring anyone I want, but..."_

"How did you find me," he clicks back the hammer on his gun.

"Earlier we detected a surge of Chaos Energy in this region at about midday. We focused our efforts in this region then, and we tracked two more similar surges. It wasn't enough to pinpoint your exact location, but we sensed massive amounts of energy here merely a short while ago, and so we came as soon as we could."

"We?" Shadow looks up as his ears twitch again. Another robot, one he doesn't recognize, hovers down to float a few feet off of the ground.

"The surrounding contamination has been dealt with, the trees will provide an impenetrable barrier for the infected."

"Who are you," Shadow narrows his eyes at the machine.

" I am E-101 Beta mk2. Shadow the Hedgehog, Dr. Ivo Robotnik has invited you to join him on the Egg-Carrier. I have been instructed to guide you, and whomever you bring with you to its location, should you accept."

"Yeah, Mecha told me already. But how do I know the offer is sincere?"

"Data unavailable, am I to understand that you refuse?"

Shadow glances between the two machines, "I want some time to think it over."

"Dr. Robotnik had suspected that you would," Mecha Sonic says standing up. "In that case, we will wait for your answer, and set up a perimeter in the meantime. Dr. Robotnik implied that we were to "give you all the time you needed to think it over." If you please, call on us when you have made a final decision."

With that, Mecha Sonic drops the force-field, and takes to the sky with Beta. Shadow watches them go, and then walks back to the house.

The others watch him, occasionally glancing upwards. Shadow walks by them, and into the house. He sits on the couch, and the others make a sort of ring around him.

"Are you okay, Shadow," Cocoa is the farthest from him. She has her rifle slung over her shoulder, and is sitting by the window. Shadow ignores the question, staring intently at the blank TV.

"Shadow, what happened out there," Rouge sits down next to him, and he scoots away from her a little.

"Miles, how's it coming down there?"

Tails sighs, "Nothing good, I'm afraid. The fakes have only enough data to suggest that they know _about _the Egg-Carrier, but nothing we can use to pick out where it is. From what I can see, Eggman sent them out as sententials, and they were reprogrammed by Metal Sonic sometime later. They haven't seen the Egg-Carrier in weeks."

Shadow frowns, "Then come up here, I think we have a Plan B." A few seconds later Tails emerges with Cream in tow.

"Okay, Mr. Shadow, we're all ears." Cream squeezes Tails's hand.

"... Apparently, Robotnik is looking for me. He sent Mecha Sonic, and a robot called E-101 Beta mk2 to find me. They told me that Robotnik has invited me onto the Egg-Carrier, and he says to bring anyone of my choosing with me."

It's quiet in the room, and everyone glances between each other and Shadow.

"It's a trap," Spike says. "It's gotta be! He can't kill Shadow with Metal Sonic, so he's wanting to make it on his terms!"

"But why say that Shadow can bring anyone? With an open invitation like that, Shadow can bring all of G.U.N. if he wants." Tails shakes his head, "It doesn't make sense."

"We all know that Eggman is cocky when he has a plan," Knuckles says. "But this is a bit much, even for him."

"Well, we couldn't bring all of G.U.N. onto the Egg-Carrier as it is." Cocoa stares out the window. "All of our agents are tied up in their own respective missions all over America. To get that kind of clearance, we would need proof that there is a solution for the epidemic there."

"Either he's banking on that, thinking that Shadow will come alone, or with the entire Sonic Team... or the offer is genuine," Reave looks at Shadow. "It's your call, what will it be?"

Shadow looks up at all the faces around him, their eyes are trained on him.

_How did I get myself into this position? _"Well, what we know, in a nutshell, is that there's a good chance that Sonic is on the Egg-Carrier, most likely trapped, or captured. We have a possible way of finding the Egg-Carrier now, but it's most likely a trap. Our best course of action would be to proceed with caution, seeing how we have no other immediate solutions."

Shadow gets to his feet, "I say we all need some rest. Tomorrow morning we go to the Egg-Carrier, and be ready for anything."

"Lock 'n Load!" Spike shouts, punching the air.

"I'll see what I can find for beds," Cream dashes off with Cheese.

Shadow turns to Cocoa, "I want you to be a lookout for tonight. Those robots said that they would set up a perimeter, but we can't trust them. If they turn on us, or let the Zombies get through, I want to know ASAP." She nods, and Shadow turns to Rouge, "Can you relieve her in a few hours?"

Rouge nods, and the two bats fly up to the roof. Shadow turns to find Amy, and Cream holding out a blanket, and a pillow.

"Since you fought the hardest out there, you get to sleep on the couch," Amy smiles at him. Before Shadow can say anything, she tosses the blanket into Shadow's arms, and cream puts the pillow on the end of the couch. Shadow blinks, and then he decides it's not worth arguing about. Besides, he's tired; and so he lies down on the couch, pulls the blanket over him, and quickly falls asleep.

Shadow wakes up to the smell of breakfast the next morning. He blinks his eyes open, and frowns. On the coffee-table beside him is a plate with eggs, sausages, and toast. Spike is crouched on the other side of the table, using a fan to blow the smell in his face.

Spike smiles, "G'morning, Shadow, and thanks for not trying to kill me again."

"Go away," Shadow says sitting up. "Or you'll find that you spoke too soon." Spike's smile drops slightly, but he backs off, heading into the kitchen. Shadow eats him breakfast where he is, and then carries his dishes into the kitchen. As he walk in, he sees almost everyone else eating at the table.

Rouge looks up, "Dammit, Shadow, couldn't you have just strangled him a _little?_ Or at least put him in a headlock?"

Shadow gives her a look of mild confusion, and Reave grins. He holds his hand out to Rouge, palm up. Rouge sighs, and puts a ruby the size of one's thumb in him palm.

"Ahem," Reave says, raising an eyebrow. "The other half?" Rouge glares at him, and then put a diamond about the same size in his hand. Reave smiles, "A pleasure doing business with you."

"Hey," Spike frowns at Reave. "Since I did all the work, I should get half the pot!" Reave thumb-flicks the ruby to him, and pockets the diamond.

"Do I even want to know?" Shadow leans on the counter, arms crossed.

"They made bets on if you were going to hurt Spike for waking you up," Amy tells him. "Rouge was betting on a repeat of yesterday morning. Reave wagered against it, and made a second bet that Spike could come away unharmed."

"You could have at least thrown your fork at him," Rouge pouts, missing her jewels, and trying to think of ways to steal them back later.

"I don't appreciate being a source of entertainment," Shadow gives the three in question a hard look.

"Sorry, Shadow, but it was too good to pass up." Reave offers an abashed smile, and goes back to his food.

"Amy, you've barely touched your breakfast," Cream raises her eyebrows at her friend.

"Oh, sorry! I guess I'm just nervous." She stares at her plate, playing with her eggs. "I just can't help but think... is Sonic okay? What if Eggman has hurt him, or... He came awfully close on the ARK, you know..." Tears begin to collect in her eyes, and she sets down her fork. "I guess I just don't have much of an appetite."

"So can I have your sausages?" Spike raises his eyebrows hopefully. Amy picks one up with her hands, and throws it at him. It hits him in the face, and he's so surprised that he falls over backwards in his chair. "... Not what I meant."

Shadow turns to Rouge, "Did anything happen last night?"

She shakes her head, "Cocoa traded shifts, but the robots kept the Zombies away. Looks like they were telling the truth, so far."

"It could be a ploy to make us drop our guard," Shadow says. "I respect the Doctor, but I trust him not even as far as I can throw him."

"Which must be pretty far," Spike says, wiping grease off his face with a napkin. "But I think we should go as soon as we can," he glances at Amy. "Some of us can't wait for much longer."

Shadow nods, and then glances around. "Where's Miles?"

"Oh, Shoot!" Cream gets up, and dashes to the kitchen. Shadow moves to the side as she grabs a pitcher of coffee, and pours a mug. "I completely forgot! Oh my, he's hopeless in the morning without his coffee." She takes the mug upstairs, and disappears.

"I guess now would be a good time to talk to those machines out there," Shadow pushes off of the counter, and heads out the front door. Once outside Shadow scans the skies, and he spots Mecha Sonic.

The blue robot lands in front of Shadow, "Have you made your decision, Shadow?"

"Tell the Doctor that I accept his invitation, and I'm bringing guests."

A moment of silence, and then Mecha Sonic says, "Your message has been relayed, Dr. Robotnik has ordered me to assure you that Beta, and myself will make your journey as safe as possible."

Shadow nods, and walks back into the house. Tails gulping down the last of his coffee, and turns to Shadow.

"We're ready to go as soon as your plane can get off the ground," Shadow says

"It's always ready, everyone?" they all nod, and Tails runs out the door. They all follow him, and Cocoa glides down from the roof. They go around the building, and Tails goes into a door in the back. A garage-like door slides up, and lets out the sound of a loud engine as the Tornado 2 slowly creeps out onto the runway. Tails leans out of the cockpit, and calls out, "It was only meant for two, so Amy, and Cream will have to find some way to fit in the back. Knuckles, Shadow, Reave, Spike I'm afraid that you'll have to ride on the wings. Rouge, and Cocoa can fly beside us." Everyone takes their positions, and the plane picks up speed as it races across the tarmac. Once in the air they are accompanied by Mecha Sonic, who takes up a position in front of the Tornado 2, and Beta, who takes up the rear.

"We will be arriving at the Egg-Carrier in approximately one hour," Mecha Sonic says. They gain altitude, almost as high as the clouds, and  
stay that way. When Rouge, or Cocoa get tired they just hold on to one of the wings of the Tornado 2, and glide. Eventually, Mecha Sonic begins to lead them downwards, and the Egg-Carrier comes into sight.

"Huh," Knuckles blinks. "Why is it the water? I thought it was his flying fortress, not his floating fortress."

"After the damage done to it during Operation: "Chaos" we have yet to restore it to it's former glory," Beta says. "Indeed, it took us weeks to find it while it was still underwater."

"It was underwater?" Cocoa frowns, "Why didn't G.U.N. know about that?"

"I'm sure Eggman just forgot to call, and let you know," Knuckles rolls his eyes, ignoring Cocoa's glower.

They loop around it, and land on the runways at the ships stern. Eggman approaches, hands behind his back.

"Ah, Shadow, I'm so glad that you decided to come." Eggman grins, a bit too friendly.

"Where's Sonic, you monster?!" Spike, and Tails jump at Amy to stop her from pounding Eggman to a pulp.

"In good time, Amy, in good time. Now, if you would be so kind as to follow me..." Eggman turns, and walks along one of the walkways to the Egg-Carrier's bow. The others follow, Shadow in the lead, and Eggman's guides floating on either side.

"Shadow, please come in here." Eggman opens the door to the bridge, and steps inside. Shadow glances at the the two hovering robots, and then steps inside. The door closes behind him, cutting him off from the rest of the group. Shadow narrows his eyes, and faces the doctor.

Robotnik isn't watching Shadow though, he's gazing out the window overviewing the rest of the Egg-Carrier. With a sigh, he says, "I truly am grateful that you could come, Shadow. I admit that I had my doubts."

Shadow frowns, if this is a trap, it's not Robotnik's style. The Doctor as Shadow knows him is a self-absorbed, gloating egomaniac. The Robotnik standing in front of him now seems... hollow.

"Why did you ask me to come here, Doctor?" Shadow crosses him arms, expecting an attack at any moment.

"... Shadow, do you know why I think I'm not the ruler of Earth?" When Shadow remains silent, Eggman says, "Because I don't think I've ever been truly serious about it. All of my plans have been bluffs at best, like with the Eclipse Cannon on the ARK. I didn't mind the demonstration on the moon, because there was no one there for it to hurt. I made the Telecast to the world as a warning that I had a powerful weapon at my disposal. Even if the cannon hadn't taken so long to recharge, I would have waited for cities to evacuate before turning the cannon to the earth. I never even intended to used its full planet-destroying power.

"That's only an example of how much I have held back. This time I decided to follow an old saying, that one cannot make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. There had to be a few innocent bystanders for it to work this time."

"So you _are _the one responsible for the epidemic," Shadow growls. Eggman turns to Shadow, and though he hides it well, the look of sorrow on Eggman's face shocks Shadow.

Eggman nods, "Yes, it's my doing. It was supposed to be my final plan for conquest, I called it Operation: "Rewind.""

"... So you called me to clean up your mess for you." Shadow puts his hands on his hips.

"I wouldn't have bothered if I had the means of ending it myself, Shadow." Robotnik sits down in the Captain's Chair. "But I've use all my available resources into simply _making _an end to it all"

"So there's a cure?" Shadow puts himself right in front of the doctor, and stares hard into his eyes.

Robotnik nods, "But I don't have the resources to make it on a massive scale. When I tried to give it to the G.U.N., they sent me away. I can't blame them for mistrusting me, but there's no choice now for me than to trust you, Shadow." Eggman reaches into a pocket, and passes Shadow something flattish, and egg-shaped with a small button on it. "All that you need to know is in that projector, I swear."

Shadow takes a step back, "We came here looking for Sonic. Can you tell me anything about him?"

Eggman sighs, and then nods, "He's in the brig, down below. I suggest that you hurry, Shadow, there isn't much time left."

Shadow grips the small egg in his hand, and nods. The Doctor had been genuine after all. Shadow turns, and begins to walk back towards the door.

_Click...BLAM!_


	13. Chapter 13

_**Chapter Thirteen: A Doctor's Last**_

Tails, Cream, Knuckles, Amy, Reave, Spike, Rouge, and Cocoa are standing on the Egg-Carrier's runway, eyes pointed upwards at three G.U.N. Helicopters lands on the tarmac. Soldiers pour out, ready for combat, but finding no threat decide to establish a safe-zone where they are. From out of a helicopter comes the Commander of G.U.N. He walks up to Rouge, who gives a salute.

The Commander returns it, "Agent Rouge, report! I was told that you were being accompanied by former Special Agent Shadow, where is he?"

"He's... indisposed at the moment, Commander."

_**FLASHBACK**_

_BLAM!_

The others jump at the sound of the gunshot. Knuckles steps forward towards the door, but Mecha Sonic gets in his way, "You are not permitted to enter at this time."

"Out of my way, tin-can, or I'll crush you!" he charges at Mecha Sonic who puts up a force-field to stop him. Knuckles pounds furiously at the wall of energy while the others are frozen with shock. What just happened in there?

Five minutes of this pass, and then the door slides open. Shadow steps out, he face expressionless. Mecha Sonic looks into the room, and so do the others. Cream, and Amy gasp; Knuckles takes a step back, Tails almost vomits, and Rouge looks horrified; an expression shared by Cocoa, Reave, and Spike. Slowly, Shadow's face hardens, and he turns to Mecha Sonic.

"Where is the brig?"

Mecha Sonic stares at the body of Doctor Ivo Robotnik a moment longer, and then turns to Shadow. "Please follow me."

Mecha Sonic leads Shadow into the lower levels of the Egg-Carrier. Rouge, Cocoa, Spike, and Reave follow behind, not wanting to be there a moment longer. Once they enter the brig, Mecha Sonic leads them to the farthermost cell. Laying in the center of the cell, dirty, and unconscious, is Sonic the Hedgehog.

"Open it," Shadow says, walking towards the door. Mecha Sonic places a hands on the release button, and presses it into the ground. The cell door rumbles as it opens, and Shadow walks in.

"Time to get up, faker." Shadow puts Sonic's arm around his shoulder, and stands. Reave takes Sonic's other shoulder, and they drag him out of the cell.

"Rouge, call G.U.N. Tell them that we have Sonic, and a cure for the epidemic."

Rouge's eyes widen, but she does as Shadow tells her to. A few minutes later they have Sonic on the tarmac, and Shadow disappears below deck again.

_**END FLASHBACK**_

Medics carry Sonic to a helicopter, Amy holding his hand. They won't let her on the chopper as they take off to get him immediate medical attention. She starts to bawl her eyes out as she watches it leave without her. Spike comes up behind her, and puts a hand on her shoulder. She turns to him, and throws herself into his arms. Spike hugs her close, stroking her hair as he makes soothing sounds.

"Don't worry, he's okay, he's okay," Spike says as he leads her back to the others.

The Commander sighs, "I had been hoping to see him again, but we have little time. Find him, and tell him to evacuate this ship as soon as he is able. As soon as it's cleared of life, then we'll sink it."

"You may want to rethink that , Commander," they all turn at the sound of Shadow's voice. He's walking up to them from one of the elevators to the lower deck. The Commander snaps a salute, which Shadow returns.

"It's good to see you again, Shadow. Forgive me for being blunt, by why can I not sink this ship?"

Shadow holds up the small device that he was given by Eggman. He turns his back to the commander, and presses the button. The device glows for a second, and then a hologram of Robotnik appears, sitting in the bridge's captain's chair.

"Shadow, if you're seeing this, then it means that I am dead. I doubt that I have much time to prepare this message, so I'll have to be as brief as I can. Consider this my confession, and my Last Will."

"A few years ago I had heard that Tails had abandoned his lab in New York to set up shop elsewhere. His assistants were left in charge of the place, and were producing some spectacular inventions to help the homeless. It was more of a clinic, really. I grew curious, and so I hacked into his mainframe without leaving a trail. After copying his files, I looked them over at my leisure.

"One particular invention intrigued me, bloodstream nanobots that can reconstruct genetic material in a human body, even the DNA. Tails had been giving these out the the homeless in the form of a vaccination. It was quite impressive really, these nanobots can heal birth defects, even take the place of lost brain cells.

"I chose to use these nanobots in my latest plan for world conquest, a plan labeled Operation: Rewind. First I developed my own prototypes of these nanobots, and then I reprogrammed them. My nanobots would essentially hijack the human body, using the brain as a Central Control Unit. I built a reproducing function into these nanobots so that each bot could make more bots. In order to do this, the nanobots would pull resources from the human's body, sapping it of its nutrients. They host would feel compelled to replenish these nutrients in the most effective way it could, by taking them from other humans. Whenever a person is bit, the nanobots in the infected's bite would go into the bloodstream, and begin producing enough bots to hijack the brain. This process usually takes twenty-four hours.

"Throughout my experimentation I developed two kinds of nanobots. The first would program the host's brain to simply bite, and move on while still reproducing nanobots at a considerably slow rate after infection. This one also had a kill-switch, one that would reverse the infection once I sent the proper codes.

"The second was highly unstable. These bots would reproduce uncontrollably, and I couldn't send a kill signal to these bots. Indeed, once released I had no control over these nanobots. I had ordered that the first type of nanobots be switched with a sample of nanobots be switched with a sample of nanobots from the clinic, and that the second would be destroyed. The plan was that Tails's own lab would begin my conquest, and I would deliver an ultimatum to the people of the world. That they would have to either accept me as their ruler, or... or I would turn them all into Zombies, and then destroy them all.

"When the epidemic started, I knew that something was wrong. The spread was too quick, and so I captured a subject, and examined him. It wasn't easy, as I had designed both types of nanobot to destroy themselves without a trace if they left the host body without coming in contact with another host. When the Kill-switch didn't work, I knew right away what had happened. I put my plan on hold, and used up the last of my available resources to make a cure. Just yesterday I developed a nanobot to counteract the bots inside the infected, and then self-destruct.

"Sadly I don't have enough materials left to produce them on a large scale. I'm going to try giving the cure to G.U.N., but in the event that I should fail, I leave this last task to you, Shadow. On this projector I have a memory file with the schematics for the Cure Nanobots. Get them to Tails, or G.U.N. After all, they are more likely to trust you than they ever should me.

"As for my personal effects, I leave everything to you, Shadow. I've sent a general command to all of my creations that once I die, they are to regard you as their master. If you decide to destroy everything of mine, that is your choice, but I wish you wouldn't. Perhaps you can find a way to use what I've made for a better purpose than they were intended for.

"I've always thought of you as family deep down, Shadow, ever since I learned that my grandfather created you. Good Luck, and Godspeed."

The hologram vanishes, and Shadow turns to the Commander, "Will that do?"

The Commander rubs his chin in thoughtfully, "Well, I don't know if we can, Shadow. This was, technically, property of the enemy after all."

Shadow crosses his arms, "I understand, Commander, but here's how I see things. I am not one of your soldiers, I am a consultant. Not only have I done my job, but I've solved your biggest problem. I believe that I am entitled to some steep compensation."

The Commander blinks, and then smiles, "That you are, Shadow, and in payment for your valor, should you choose to accept it, we'll just let you keep the good doctor's effects, deal?" The Commander stretches out a hand.

Shadow grins, and shakes the Commander's hand, "That will do nicely, thank you." He gives the projector to the Commander, who pockets it.

The Commander turns to Rouge, "Agent Rouge, a job well done. As for you, Agent Cocoa, for your part in this, I am promoting you to Field-Agent. I want the both of you to remain with Shadow until further notice."

The two bats smile at each other, and then salute the Commander, "Yes Sir!"

The Commander returns the salute, and turns, heading back to his helicopter. The choppers take off, leaving the Mobians watching the sky.

"Well, I didn't see that coming," Knuckles put his hands on his hips.

"We should probably go see Sonic," Tails begins to walk towards his plane.

"Miles," Tails stops, and turns to Shadow. "It may be a better idea to stay here for the night, let them do their job. We'll go visit him tomorrow." Everyone stares at Shadow in shock, but he just turns, and heads back to the back of the Egg-Carrier. His ears twitch, and he looks over his shoulder. He sees that the others are way behind him, but they are following him.


	14. Chapter 14

**Final Chapter, I've made it to the Finish-Line! Song "All Hail SHadow" by Crush 40!**

_**Chapter Fourteen: The Next Generation**_

"Wish us luck," Amy waves from the back seat in the Tornado 2. Knuckles rides on the left wing, and Cream is in Amy's lap.

Shadow nods, "Tell the faker when he wakes up that as soon as he's back to normal, I'm coming to put him back in the hospital." Amy mouths what Shadow guesses is "Men," and Cream giggles.

Shadow watches the Tornado 2 disappear into the horizon, and turns. Rouge is walking up to him from one of the elevators.

"Well, it's nicer here than I thought it would be," she says, smiling. "It looks like it's almost put back together."

"It's not even close," Shadow walks around her, and heads for the walkway. She follows him, a confused look on her face.

"Where are the others," Shadow crosses his arms.

"Well Spike is asleep, Reave, and Cocoa are training in the Hot Shelter."

"They'll want to be here for this," Shadow walks to the elevator to the lower levels, and Rouge follows him down bellow. Reave, and Cocoa are coming out of the Hot Shelter, laughing. They see Shadow, and hurry over.

"Someone wake Spike up, we need to talk." Shadow waits as Reave runs off, and returns a few minutes later with Spike.

"W-whats the e-e-e-e-emergency," Spike yawns. "And where's breakfast?" Cocoa tosses him a granola bar, and he nods in thanks.

"Follow me," Shadow leads them to the three doors in the lowest levels of the Egg-Carrier. The one on the right leads to the brig, and the one in the middle leads to the Hot Shelter. Shadow opens the door to the left, and leads them into a small room. In the center of the room stands a metal capsule.

"This used to be a room for the production of Doctor Robotnik's E-100 Series, now it holds something even greater." Shadow turns to the others. "There was more to the message than the Commander saw, a message meant only for me. Robotnik programmed the projector to delete that part of the message, and this is what he told me.

"Robotnik knew that Metal Sonic would use his death as a way to gain complete freedom, and with a Chaos Emerald powering him there's no telling what kind of damage he's capable of now. Plus, Metal Sonic has two Chaos Emeralds. Robotnik had three, apparently; He used one to power Metal Sonic, had another on standby, and the third," Shadow raps a knuckle on the capsule. "It's in here."

The other stare in wonder at the capsule, and then Reave says, "What was he using it for?"

"A creation that will render Metal Sonic obsolete. He couldn't awaken it before because it requires a Chaos Emerald to get its systems running." Shadow pulls out his green Emerald.

"Now we can awaken it, and use it to end this mystery." Shadow presses his Emerald to the capsule, and concentrates. The Chaos Emerald glows in his palm, and then he is forced away from the capsule by a wave of energy. Shadow blinks in surprise as electricity begins to flow across the pod. Bolts of blue, red, and green lightning begin to wrap around the capsule, and a screen on the far side of the room comes to life. Codes flash across it faster than any of them can read, and the pod begins to glow from the heat. After a few minutes, everything comes to a sudden stand-still. With a hiss, the pod opens along a fault-line they hadn't noticed before.

Not even Shadow had been expecting what lay inside. He wasn't sure if it was Mobian, but it it sure as hell isn't human. If it's Mobian, it's a wolf with white fur. It's heavily muscled, and is definitely taller than six feet. From its elbows to fingertips, and from its knees down, its limbs are robotic. The style is different from Robotnik's creations in the past, the metal parts of its limbs look more like medieval armor than anything.

It takes in a breath, and opens its eyes. They're completely red, save for slitted black pupils. It sits up, and climbs out of the capsule. Its feet make the floor shake slightly as it hops out of the capsule. It towers over them, looking them over until its eyes come to rest on Shadow.

"How may I serve you, Master?"

Shadow walks up to the creature, "What is your name?"

"I am Dr. Ivo Robotnik's seventh attempt in the Hunting, and Tactical Killing unit. HTK-7, codename: W.O.L.F."

Shadow nods, "I have no particular mission for you yet, just stay where I can call on you."

"Yes Master." Wolf looks at the others, "And them?"

"They're not a threat, don't worry about them." Shadow heads back for the door, and the others follow him. Wolf has to stoop a little to avoid hitting his head.

"This robot looks pretty cool, Shadow, Are you sure it'll be able to kill Metal Sonic though?" Spike looks between Wolf, and Shadow.

"Metal Sonic will die by my hand," Shadow says with venom in his voice. He cracks his knuckles, and doesn't look back.

"If I may, Master Shadow, I would like to point out that I am not a robot, I am a cybernetic organism. I have been uploaded with all the projects Dr. Robotnik had laid out before his death."

"How did you know he was dead?" Rouge looks up at him in curiosity.

"There was surveillance footage of his suicide," Wolf doesn't look at her, but instead keeps his gaze on Shadow. "And I have direct access to Dr. Robotnik's mainframe.

"Can you tell us anything about Metal Sonic, like where to find him?" Cocoa looks around the group, and Reave gives her a nod.

"Negative, Metal Sonic has severed ties to the Mainframe. I am rewriting the codes to the Mainframe as we speak so that he cannot learn anything new about us."

"What's to stop Metal-head from coming here, and trashing the Egg-Carrier?" Spike gets surprised looks from Rouge, and Reave. Apparently, neither of them had thought of that.

"Mecha Sonic told me yesterday that there is a kind of energy field around the Egg-Carrier that is the opposite of one that Metal Sonic has around him, now that he's powered by a Chaos Emerald." Shadow leads them up to the higher levels. "If he tried getting anywhere near this ship it would fry him like an EMP."

The others are sigh in relief, but Rouge is studying Shadow. "There's something you're not telling us, Shadow."

Shadow stops walking, and turns to face them. "It's the Chaos Emeralds, the fake ones. I finally figured out what was bothering me about them."

"You mean, besides the fact that counterfeit jewelery is just plain wrong?" Rouge raises an eyebrow, and grins.

Shadow ignores the joke, "Who was it that developed the process of making a fake Emerald in the first place?"

Spike tilts his head, "Tails, why?"

Shadow nods, "And he only shared the process with G.U.N., right?"

"Correct," Cocoa crosses her arms, a confused look on her face. "But what are you getting at?"

"I believe that the Doctor had a mole at G.U.N." Shadow crosses his arms, and looks at Wolf.

"My memory shows no contact with any agents of any kind, Master Shadow. However, according to my personality profile on Dr. Robotnik, he wouldn't have used his Mainframe to contact spies in the case that his computer systems were breached."

"He could have gotten the process from Tails's computer in New York," Reave reasons.

Shadow shakes his head, "Last night I asked Miles where if he had kept any information about Chaos Emeralds in his lab at New York, and he said no. He keeps important information like that in a safe that not even Robotnik can- could have broken into, Since we know that he didn't get the information from Miles, then we know it had to of come from G.U.N. Robotnik never held on to a Emerald long enough to work out replication on his own."

While the others glance between each other, Wolf speaks up, "So what would you have us do?"

"For one thing, we cannot tell G.U.N. about the mole, if the spy knows that someone is onto them, then they'll do all they can to throw us off their scent. For now there's nothing we can do about the mole, but here's what's bothering me the most.

"If the mole was Robotnik's, then it's safe to assume that Metal Sonic now has a mole in G.U.N."

Rouge's eyes go wide, "Then... that means..."

"It would be unwise to assume anything, or anyone at this point," Reave scratches his head. "At any rate, we know the mole isn't any of _us, _or the Sonic Team."

"So these are the only people we can trust," Shadow says. "Right now we have to wait, gather our strength, and waits for them to make the first move. That's all I wanted to say, if you want to leave just don't tell anyone about the mole."

"Are you kidding," Spike rolls his eyes. "I haven't had this kind of fun in years, no way I'm leaving!"

"I believe we still have a debt to pay," Reave grins, and crosses his arms. "Besides, I admit that I'm enjoying myself as well."

"And we have our orders," Rouge smiles slyly, and Cocoa nods.

"I would sooner rip the Chaos Emerald from my circuitry than abandon you, Master Shadow."

Shadow nods, and turns away, "Then get ready for war, people."

"Yeah, go Shadow Team!"

Everyone give Spike an odd look, even Wolf. Spike licks his lips, "Well there's a Sonic Team... And we gotta call ourselves something, don't we?" Everyone decides to just ignore him.

"Wolf, I want you to start on those projects, any that could be of use to us, but be discreet."

"Yes, Master Shadow."

"Just call me Shadow." Shadow takes the walkway to the runway, and stares out to the east where the sun is rising.

_I have a promise to keep, Maria, and I make it again. I promise to give the people of earth a chance for a happy life, and I won't anyone, or anything get in the way of that. For I am Shadow, The Ultimate Life-form!_

_**All hail Shadow!Heroes rise again! **_

_**Obliterating everything that's not your friend!**_

_**Nothing can stop you now, No ghost to bring you down! **_

_**When there's nothing left to lose, you win!  
(Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!) (Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!)  
Suffer long and it will set you free, **_

_**Only through trial do we find the strength we need! **_

_**It's never over, just another day! **_

_**Of hope and tragedies, and everything that comes our way!  
Determination of the strong!**_

_**Found the meaning that you searched for so long!  
All hail Shadow! Heroes rise again! **_

_**Obliterating everything that's not your friend! **_

_**Nothing can stop you now, No ghost to bring you down! When there's nothing left to lose, you win!  
(Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!) (Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!)  
Somewhere in chaos we all find ourselves! **_

_**This destruction is the only tale we tell. **_

_**White is black, and black is white, **_

_**Right is wrong, and wrong is right! **_

_**Nothing ever fills this hole inside your heart!  
Determination of the strong! Found the meaning that you searched for so long!**_

_**All hail Shadow! Heroes rise again! **_

_**Obliterating everything that's not your friend! **_

_**Nothing can stop you now, No ghost to bring you down! **_

_**When there's nothing left to lose, you win!  
=INSTRUMENTAL=**_

_**All hail Shadow! Heroes rise again! **_

_**Obliterating everything that's not your friend!**_

_** Nothing can stop you now, No ghost to bring you down! **_

_**When there's nothing left to lose, you win!  
(Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!) (Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!) **_

**Well, that's the end of my first Fanfic, I hope you enjoyed it. Now, I have a challenge for the readers, if they should choose to accept it. One of the characters I created was based after me. If you can guess which one it is, then I'll put a character of your creation into my next book. **

**Here's my only hint: "The most obvious answer to a riddle isn't always the right one."**

**The deadline I'm setting before I get started on the squel anyways is March 1st, 2013, I wish you all the best of luck!**


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